Too Complicated (Lazel)
by DemigodGleek
Summary: A Lazel-fanfiction about the Demigods on the Argo II after Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus. WARNING! A lot of spoilers from The Mark of Athena. SORRY FOR GRAMMAR AND SPELLING ERRORS! Hope you will enjoy it!
1. Chapter 1

Too complicated

_Hello, this is my first fanfiction! It is a Lazel-fanfic, so Frazel-shippers should stay away ;) I am not good at writing, so sorry if it is boring... I really love Leo Valdez, and I think writing from his POV will just offend his character, becuase I am so bad with humour and so, so it will only be from Hazels POV. I think._

_I hope you will enjoy it!_

**Chapter 1 - Eavesdropping**

Hazel opened her eyes.

It was late at night, but she was used to wake up all the time. Her seasickness woke her up almost every night. She really wished the quest would not be on a boat.

And, as usual, she had nightmares. They were not demigod nightmares, dream messages from gods or so, they were regular nightmares that she dreamed since Percy and Annabeth fallen into Tartarus.

Hazel could not stop blame herself. She had been there, she saw the line wrapped around Annabeth first, but she had not done anything. She had felt so terrified she could not move.

Now she cursed herself for not doing anything, not helping Percy and Annabeth at all. Then maybe they would still be on the ship, sailing to Greece.

"Stop it." Hazel muttered for herself. "That will not help you get back to sleep."

After a few minutes of just lying there and feeling how all the food in her stomach wanted to come out, Hazel got up. She decided to go to the mess hall and order some orange juice. Apparently that would help toward seasickness.

She stepped out of her cabin and started to walk. It was dark, but that never had bothered Hazel. She was a child of the Underworld, the darkest place of all.

Just as she almost reached the mess hall she felt how the ship turned. She shut her eyes and hugged her stomach, and she remembered something.

_"Don't lean over. Don't close your eyes. It will make the queasiness worse."_

Leo.

It felt like it was so long ago, but the thought of that moment alone with Leo made Hazel nervous. She had mixed feelings about him. He was so nice to her, cute, funny, basically everything she ever loved with Sammy. But Leo was not Sammy. Oh, right, almost forgot, Sammy was his _great-grandfather_.

Since that flashback, Hazel's feelings got a lot more complicated than before. The message was clear: _H__e is not Sammy. Stay away. _But the truth was, when they were in that underwater camp, she found herself a little bit disappointed when Leo told her he fixed things up with Frank.

And then there was Frank. She still liked him, of course she did. He was her boyfriend. But Hazel did not feel attracted to him the same way as before, not since Leo came around.

She had reached the mess hall. Silently she ordered one of the glasses on the table to fill with orange juice.

Hazel was about to drink it when she heard something that made her heart leap.

A low voice came from deck, where Festus and the helm were. It sounded upset, maybe even panicked. Hazel left her cup on the table and started to carefully go toward the voice.

"Festus, I don't know what to do…"

With shock Hazel realized it was Leo's voice, but it did not sound like him at all. His voice was trembling, fear and panic reflected in it.

She got closer so she could hear what he said clearer.

From where she was standing she could see Leo. He was walking on and off on the deck, his hands trembling. Hazel could not make out his face from there, but she could tell that he was deeply upset.

"I had this dream, I saw my mother." He ran his nimble fingers through his black, curly hair. "She was just like I remember her, but she was a ghost. I couldn't see where she was, it was just darkness behind her. She was just standing, drifting, whatever, there with her eyes closed, I didn't know what to think, but before I could say something she opened her eyes and saw me. She looked terrified. She s-said: '_Mijo, _you can't be here. It is too dangerous, for any of you. If Gaea finds out… You have to go, Leo. I will meet you soon. _Ten cuidado, mijo. _And Gaea is not the only one you will have to worry about. Alert your friends, Leo. We will meet soon.'"

Hazel shuddered. It was not just the dream that freaked her out, but how Leo reacted. He was the calmest person she knew, he was always together and nothing could hurt him. She realized that all that could have been an act. He looked so vulnerable right now.

"I d-don't understand. I really saw her, Festus. She looked so terrified, y sus ojos estaba lleno de dolor."

Hazel blinked. Had he just switched to Spanish?

Leo did not notice it. He kept talking, walking on and off on the deck, looking terrified, angry and sad at the same time.

A series creaks came from Festus. Hazel did not understand a thing of them, but Leo apparently did. He looked even more agitated.

"I don't care! She said we will meet soon. What did she mean? She is dead." The pain in Leo's voice was sharper than glass.

Hazel held back a sob. She felt like she was melting. All the time Leo had been there on the _Argo II_, she always looked up on him like the admiral, the joke-boy that never would take something really serious. He was the only one that did not show any kind of feelings besides happiness, nervousness and seriousness (but the last one was only in life-or-death situations, sometimes not even then). She felt like she had the responsibility to know him and all his feelings, because of her time with Sammy.

"And what did she mean, that Gaea isn't our only enemy?! Annabeth fought Arachne, Percy and Jason killed the giants, now we should not have anything to worry about until we are in Greece. Right?"

Leo ran his fingers through his hair, furiously tapping them to his leg, or fiddling with some machine parts he took from his toolbelt.

Hazel felt like her legs were transforming to lead. She never felt so guilty or sad. She wanted to bolt, run back to her room, but she could not move.

"I…I-" Leo stopped walking on and off and just looked desperately around himself. "I am a fool, right? I thought this would be my fresh start, sailing with seven awesome friends in my mastership to Greece. Truth is, Piper and Jason's idea of quality time doesn't involve me anymore. Percy and Annabeth are in Tartarus, which is my fault because of that stupid fortune cookie. Frank and I don't have a good relationship. Hazel-"

Leo sighed. He got quiet, and then he walked back to the helm and started to steer the ship.

Hazel left as fast as she could. She almost ran, leaving her orange juice. She felt nauseous, but not because of the ships movements.


	2. Chapter 2

**_New chapter :D Thanks for all reviews! You are awesome, guys! I checked out some of your fanfictions and they were all AMAZING :)_  
**

**_Now, this chapter is a long one, hope you will enjoy it :) It is not that good, though._**

**_Please review!_**

**_ENJOY!_**

**Chapter 2 – Work and fire**

The next morning, Hazel felt like she was an empty scale. She managed to get herself out of bed and get some clothes on, but every step hurt.

At the breakfast, everybody looked like they had a rough night. Nobody said anything. Frank was seated next to Hazel, his cute baby face stuck in a frowny face. He still looked kind of cute, but Hazel did not care about that at all. Leo had wide, shocked eyes with dark rings around them, his face full of bad emotions.

She stared at her food, until someone finally said something.

"We should try to reach Greece as fast as we can." Jason said. His eyes were darker than usual, and he looked rugged in a handsome way. Piper had the same expression, like finally accepting what happened to Percy and Annabeth and determined to do something. Hazel wished she could get over it that easy too.

"You're right." Coach Hedge said. "This will not help. Everybody, get up! Our cupcakes down in Tartarus don't want us to just hang out here! We got work to do. Right, Valdez?"

Leo blinked. He looked so lost in thoughts that he did not even answer, he just nodded.

Everyone stared with pointed looks at him. He finally understood what the coach meant, and he cleared his throat.

"Right. Er, I want everybody to Iris message the people at Camp Half-Blood. I will take copies of the Archimedes book, so we can send them there. It will probably help them in the war against Camp Jupiter. After that, we have to use every spare moment we have to check that everything on the ship looks okay. It needs to be perfect when we reach Greece." Leo's brilliant brown eyes still looked lost, and would not focus on anything. "And I want someone to message Reyna too. Maybe see if we can slow her down. Frank and Jason contact Reyna. Coach Hedge and Piper contact Camp Half-Blood, I will come to you later 'cause I need to speak to Nyssa. Is that everyone?"

Hazel felt her heart sink when Leo forgot to mention her, but at the same time a part of her said: _Snap out of it. You are Frank's girlfriend._

"Nico and Hazel left." Piper said, clearly unsatisfied with letting Jason contact Reyna. "Where is Nico, by the way?"

Everybody looked around, until Hedge said:

"Saw him sleeping in the spare cabin. The kid gotta get som sleep."

Hazel nodded.

"Yeah, that death-trance really drained him on his energy."

"Good. Well, then, let's start working!" Leo tried to do that goofy smile that was so much like Sammy's, but it just looked like a forced, pained shadow of a smile. Even Piper noticed, she frowned and said:

"Leo, are you okay?"

She apparently used charmspeak without knowing, because Leo shook his head. Then he blinked, a little confused, and smashed his hands together.

"Where were we? Right, Hazel, you can either go with Coach Hedge or come with me."

"I'll go with you." Hazel answered, a little too quickly. Frank frowned, and Piper gave her a quizzical look. Hazel felt how her cheeks were getting a little red, but luckily Leo did not seem to notice.

"Good. Then let's go."

Leo left the table, so did Hazel. Frank still looked a little miffed, but she gave him a little forced smile and followed Leo upon deck.

Even though he was lost in thoughts, Leo managed to give Hazel a little smile.

"Okay, let's start. If you press that button," he pressed one of the thousand buttons, "it will open _this,_" on the left side of the button a little hole big enough for a bunch of paper opened up, "and then you can just put the first scroll in there."

Leo showed her how to do. After putting the scroll in, it closed and another hole in the exact same size opened up below. Out of there a perfect copy of the scroll appeared.

"Wow." Hazel said.

"Yeah, huh?" Leo smiled a little. "We want to copy every scroll, so let's start."

They kept putting new scrolls in the hole, until they'd copied all. The silence was kind of awkward, and made Hazel nervous. Leo looked a little nervous too, and he did not look as angry and shocked as before.

After a while, they were done. Leo took the real scrolls and was going to put them on a table, but dropped one. Hazel and Leo were both just going to pick them up, and their hands touched. Leo's cheeks were bright read, as if they were going to catch fire.

"Uh, I'll take it." He said. He snatched the scroll and straightened, and for a second they stood face to face.

Leo's eyes were beautiful.

Then Leo turned away and left the scrolls on a table. To Hazels surprise, the table started to walk away, into the engine room.

"Buford." Leo said and smiled a little.

"Let me guess." Hazel said, "Something that was created after my death?"

Leo laughed a little. It made Hazel feel warm inside.

"No, he is a magic table. My dad has them in his forges."

"Oh." Hazel said. "That is… great, I guess."

"Buford is helping me with stuff. He will do everything you ask him for, if you use Lemon Pledge. He hates Windex."

Hazel did not understand what Leo meant, but she figured that if she asked he would give her a long, complicated explanation she would understand even less of. So she kept her mouth shut and watched as Leo started to steer the ship.

She felt even guiltier. His eyes were surrounded by dark circles, after all this hours of steering. He had not been sleeping for days. He looked even scrawnier than before, maybe because every time they were supposed to eat, he did not eat or he was still steering.

Still, he looked beautiful. Just like Sammy.

"Leo, when was the last time you ate something?" Hazel asked him.

Leo blinked.

"What? Uh… I was in the mess hall with you at breakfast."

"Did you eat something?"

"I wasn't hungry."

"Leo! You have to eat, unless you want to die of hunger before we get to Greece."

"Hazel, I'm not hungry. I'll eat something later."

Hazel sighed. Leo did not change his expression at all; he kept his eyes on the horizon and continued steering the ship.

"Leo" Hazel said with a soft voice, "You can't do this to yourself. Please come with me and eat something, Festus can keep the ship aloft. Please."

Leo frowned. He still looked cute.

Hazel cursed herself. _I AM IN LOVE WITH FRANK!_

"Okay, I suppose…"

He pressed some buttons, and started to go, but then froze.

"Last time I did this it didn't end well." He muttered.

"Leo?"

"I-I can eat later. I don't want any more Shrimpzillas to attack the ship."

Hazel wanted to scream. Why was it so hard to make Leo just come with her, eat something, so she did not feel so guilty?!

Then she realized that was really selfish.

"Leo, Shrimpzilla was not your fault. I took you to that flashback." She said softly.

"And I forgot the sonar."

"You are not a machine, Leo, you are a human. Humans forget. And forgive."

"But on this ship, I am not!"

He turned to Hazel, his eyes wild.

"I am nothing here. I am that guy who steers the ship, the joker boy that no one takes seriously. And I don't care! I like to be that! I can be surrounded by machines, I can joke. It has always been this way for me, and I don't want that to change."

Leo did not meet Hazel's eyes. He turned to the helm and pressed some buttons.

"You don't need to stay to keep me company. I got Festus."

He seemed to think he said too much.

Hazel hesitated, and wondered if she should say something else.

"You are not alone, Leo." She finally said.

She touched his hand, and he winced. Hazel felt sad, she knew Leo lied to her, he did feel alone even if he would not admit it. It had been so much easier with Sammy, she could read him like a book and he had never been sad or alone.

Hazel left Leo standing there, steering the ship to Greece, and certainly thinking about his dream.

Everyone had something to do, but Hazel just wandered around. She tried hard to forget Leo's and her conversation, but everywhere Hazel looked she saw something that reminded her of him. Of course, Leo had built the whole ship. She still could not wrap her mind around that.

Leo's shocked face and wild eyes were burned behind her eyelids, every time Hazel blinked she saw the image. She was so lost in thoughts that she did not see Frank coming through the corridor, and the result was that they bumped into each other.

"Sorry." Hazel mumbled.

"S'okay. How did it go with Leo?"

Frank's voice was careful, like he was trying hard not to curse.

Hazel did not answer. What could she say?

"You do not look good. I mean, you are cute as always of course, but-"

She would have laughed, but she just felt even sadder. How could she choose between Frank and Leo? It was impossible.

"I understand. Well, I am tired, so I wanted to get some sleep before lunch."

Frank nodded.

"And, by the way, Nico just woke up. He is with Jason speaking with Reyna. I wanted to check on you-"

_So you would not do something stupid with Leo_, Hazel finished Frank's line in her thoughts.

"-'cause you were so distant this morning."

"Yeah. Well, I will go to sleep, so I will see you later." She said and left Frank.

Hazel stepped into her cabin, and found Nico sitting on her bed. His eyes were dark, his hair tangled and black. A skull-ring sat on one of his fingers.

Even if he and Hazel had the same dad, Nico radiated a dark, Underworld-ish power that made Hazel shudder.

"Hi, what are you doing here?" she said. "Frank said you were with Jason, speaking with Reyna."

"It didn't go so well. When Reyna started to yell at Jason about that he abandoned the Romans, I decided to leave them alone."

They were quiet for a moment.

"Are you okay?" Hazel finally said and sat down next to Nico. "Feeling better?"

Nico laughed a little.

"Physically? Yes. Ambrosia fixed that up. Mentally? Nope."

Hazel frowned.

"Why?"

"The House of Hades. The Doors of Death. Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus. _That_'s why."

"Look, Nico, you cannot blame yourself for what happened. You could not do something. And, we need someone on the other side of the Doors, right? So to close them, someone had to go in anyway."

The words sounded warm and nice, but Hazel felt hollow. She blamed herself too. Everybody on the ship blamed themselves.

"Maybe you're right." Nico said and sighed. "Well, if we could make the other believe that too… That it was necessary, maybe they would get in better spirits. The group are tearing themselves apart. You see that, don't you?"

Hazel wanted to say: _No. Everything is fine!_ But she knew Nico was right. If everyone kept blaming themselves, soon they would start to blame each other.

"Yes. But what can we do?"

Nico shrugged.

"Just keep doing stuff. Keep being busy, too busy to think about Percy and Annabeth. Like now, everyone is doing something and it makes them feel better."

"Since when did you examine as a psychologist?" Hazel laughed. Nico smiled a little.

"Let's get you something to eat." Hazel said and got up. "You look awful."

Nico rolled his eyes.

"Why, thank you."

They walked out from the cabin when Piper came running with a terrified expression on her pretty face.

"Monster." She said, breathing hard. "On deck. Fast-"

The three of them ran to deck, where they saw a horrible scene.

A gigantic Chimaera, with red paralyzing eyes, was growling towards Jason, Leo, Frank and Coach Hedge. Jason was trying to stab it with his sword, but the monster was too fast. Frank shot arrows on it, but they harmlessly bounced off the Chimaera and just seemed to annoy it. Coach Hedge swinged his bat and yelled: "Die!" until a huge paw struck him and made him fall unconscious on the floor.

But the worst of all was Leo.

He shot columns of fire toward the Chimaera, who replied with more fire. Leo's eyes danced with some kind of angry, dark light, and combed with his hands full of fire it made him look absolutely terrifying. Still, for every column of fire he shot, he looked a little bit more tired. The ship was in flames, and every time the Chimaera breathed fire (which was really often), Leo screamed:

"You will NOT set my ship on flames!"

Hazel just stood there, her mouth hang open. Then a horrible scream woke her up.

Jason's shirt was on fire. He tried to smother the flames, but it did not work. Piper screamed.

Leo, who did not take his eyes off the monster, yelled:

"Roll on the floor!"

Jason listened and did what Leo told him to do. It looked kind of ridiculous, but the flames died out. Jason's shirt was tattered and smoking, but he seemed to be unharmed.

At the same time, Leo dodged an attack from the Chimaera's snake-tail.

"We can't reach them!" Nico said. "The fire…"

Hazel saw the problem. The Chimaera's last fire-attack had created a fire wall between Piper, Nico, Hazel and the others.

Frank had no more arrows. He had not noticed all the fire, but now when he did, all color drained out from his face.

The flames got higher, so Hazel could not see the others anymore.

She felt her throat closing up from panic. If the fire burned her, it would burn Frank's lifeline too. Then they both were dead.

Piper fought back tears.

"JASON!" she screamed desperately.

Nico just looked terrified.

Hazel started to think. They needed water, A LOT of water.

_We need Percy,_ she thought grimly. _Why does this have to happen exactly when he is not here?!_

"LEO, TRY TO GET US DOWN IN THE WATER!" she screamed the loudest she could, and just hoped Leo could hear her. Maybe they in some way could make a wave if they were in the water. It would certainly be easier than if they were aloft, that was clear.

And indeed, she felt how the ship slowly turned down, sinking through the air. A few seconds later, they hit the water.

The Chimaera roared. Hazel could not see the others, just bright, orange fire, but she could almost imagine how Jason attacked with his sword and Leo shot another column of fire.

If Percy was there, he could just make a wave big enough to kill the fire but not sink the ship. He was the son of Poseidon. This was his territory.

Then, like a miracle, the noise of the water heaving below them got louder. With a sudden _SPLASH! _And a really horrible roar from the Chimaera, everything got quiet.

The fire in front of them was not there anymore. Hazel was soaking wet. She saw Leo, Jason, Frank and Coach Hedge just standing there (not the coach, he was still unconscious), shocked. The Chimaera was gone.

Without even thinking Hazel ran to Leo and hugged him tightly. She felt the smell of machine oil and smoke in his shirt. Leo just stood there, completely still.

Hazel heard Piper screaming to Jason:

"You IDIOT! You could have died!" But she did not really sound angry, just relivied.

Besides from that, it was still quiet. Hazel felt her cheeks getting red, even if no one could see that.

Why had she hugged Leo?! She just complicated things with Frank now. He would think she was in love with Leo.

Still, it felt awfully good. It felt so… Sammy.

Slowly Hazel backed away from Leo. He looked surprised, but a little smile played on his lips.

"Someone was scared, huh?" He joked, and Hazel felt her cheeks getting even redder.

She glared at him.

"You are _stupid_, I thought you was going to die, ALL of you, it was just scandalizing, how could you-"

Hazel did not finish. Flustered she looked around her; Piper was suppressing a smile, Jason looked kind of surprised but not in a bad way, Nico was looking at her like: _Seriously?_ and Frank-

Frank was not there.

"I-I just…" She fanned herself a little, and then walked off, trying hard not to run.

No one followed her.

_**You will get to know about why that wave saved them later. Hope you'll liked it! **_


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks for all awesome reviews! 3 I checked all of your fanfictions, they were so AWESOME!_

_Hope you'll liked the last chapter, and hope you'll like this :) About that wave: you will hear more about why it came and so. It was not just out of no where._

_Please review, and most important: ENJOY!_

**Chapter 3 – Demigods needs to eat**

Hazel tried hard not to cry. Why did Venus need to play with her feelings like this?! She loved Frank. He had been there for her, and he cared for her. Hazel was always comfortable and calm in Frank's company.

But Leo made her feel… She just could not place it. Exactly how she felt with Sammy, actually. Kind of nervous, happy in a jittery way, full of energy and excited.

Hazel had no idea what kind of love she liked the best. She felt like she should know, but she really did not.

"Frank?" she called. "Where are you?"

She heard a grumble, and tried to make out where it came from.

"Here." he said, clearer this time.

Apparently he was in his cabin. Hazel opened the door and found Frank sitting on his bed, his face grim.

"Frank?" she asked nervously. "I am so sorry-I still-"

"The fire freaked me out." Frank blurted. "I ran as soon as the wave came. It is just-the stick-"

Hazel could not suppress her smile. Frank had not seen her hugging Leo. She felt happy, in a weird way.

"It is okay." She said and sat down next to him. "Come on, you have the best reason to be scared of fire. You were so brave, fighting though you were surrounded by flames. I could not take my eyes off you." Hazel said in a soothing voice. It made her feel really guilty, but still, she wanted Frank to be happy.

Frank looked up and smiled a little.

"You are amazing, Hazel. I still can't understand how I got together with you."

Hazel laughed.

"Well, because I liked you."

They sat there, looking into each other's eyes for a moment.

Hazel felt calm, comfortable, happy in a nice, cozy way. Frank always made her feel like that.

"We should change to dry clothes." Hazel said. "And I am starving. Let's go and eat after changing."

Frank nodded, smiling. It made Hazel happy, but guilty and sad too. His smile was nothing like Leo's grin, but both smiles were adorable.

Why did she have to think about Leo all the time?!

"I'll see you later." She kissed him on the cheek and left the cabin.

Hazel changed to dry clothes, squeezed out most of the water from her curly cinnamon-colored hair and joined the others in the mess hall. Everybody seemed to be in a better mood now. Jason had an arm around Piper, they both looked happy, and Coach Hedge was in a deep conversation with Nico about what happened with people who got killed by a baseball bat ("Will they have a baseball bat following them and hitting them on their head in the Underworld if they die that way?") and Frank sat waiting for Hazel. The only one who was not there was Leo.

When Hazel came into the room, Piper shot her a weird look. She probably blushed.

"Where is Leo?" she asked before she could stop herself.

She shot Frank an uncertain look.

_You are stupid,_ she scolded. _You can ask for a friend without your boyfriend gets jealous. He is not as terrible as you, you know._

"He is trying to repair the ship." Jason said, and frowned a little. "He said he didn't want any help. Something about that he needed to think."

Piper looked uneasy.

"I tried to make him come and eat something, but he have a strong will when he wants to. I didn't use my strongest charmspeak, but… Still." She said.

"I haven't seen that kid eat a real meal in some days now. Everybody gotta eat really well, monsters can smell on you if you don't eat well. Best way to prepare for a fight is a good meal, as my mama goat used to say." Coach Hedge said and started to chew a napkin. He glared at them all, daring them to protest.

"Of course, Coach." Jason said. "Someone should go and try to convince Leo to eat."

"I'll do it." Hazel said. Frank frowned at her, but before she could say anything Piper said:

"Are you sure, Hazel? I can go."

"No, seriously, it's okay. I will call if he starts to fight." She said and forced a smile.

"Hazel, why-" Frank started.

"Let her go." Nico said. "If someone needs to have energy, it is the one who is steering."

Hazel shot Nico a grateful look. Frank looked like he wanted to protest, but Hazel walked off before he could.

"See you later." She said to the others and ran off.

She found Leo sitting on the floor, frowning at the burning marks.

"Hi." Hazel said simply.

Leo winced and looked up. Her heart leaped when he met her eyes.

"Are you here to convince me to eat you too? I thought I made it clear with Piper that I'm not hungry."

He didn't look so angry anymore, just exhausted.

Hazel sat down next to him, which kind of surprised him.

"Actually, yes. You have to eat, how can a Repair Boy repair anything without any energy?" She said and smiled a little.

Leo's cheeks got a little red.

"I forgot you saw that scroll." He said and grinned a little towards Hazel. "Did it work well?"

"Of course." Hazel said. "You should have seen Reyna's face. It was... what do you tend to say?... 'pretty cool'."

Leo spread his hands in fake exasperation and grinned. Hazel felt her heart leap again. It felt good to have the old Leo back.

"I can't help myself. I'm naturally awesome."

Hazel smiled.

"Good to have you back." She said.

Leo raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" Hazel shifted. Should he tell him about that he heard him telling Festus about his dream? Maybe later, she decided. "You have been slightly unlike yourself. Angry and sad. Not quite… Leo. It is good to have the old Leo back."

Leo was quiet. Hazel had the feeling that he was trying to decide how much to share.

"I know what you mean." He finally said. "Just got some issues…" He stopped himself, and started fiddling with some things from his toolbelt.

"You want to share?"

Leo raised his head and his brown eyes met Hazels. They were full of uncertainty and fear. It struck Hazel again how beautiful they were.

"You would listen?"

Hazel felt how her heart started to melt.

"Of course." She said. "I will always listen to you."

She cursed herself for saying that. Leo looked a little red too.

He took a shaky breath.

"Well, I am worrying about that Gaea isn't our only enemy. It is someone else, I feel like I should know who, I wish I could just check it up on Google or something…"

"Google?" Hazel asked.

That seemed to cheer Leo up a little bit.

"I always forget that you missed the last, like, seventy years. I'll show you later. What I'm saying is that I have this nagging suspicion that I _should _know, but I don't. Something with the Underworld to do… You know any evil gods or other evil creatures from the Underworld?"

Hazel thought about that.

"Thanatos is on our side, mostly. Pluto too. Pluto controls Charon, so he is not a treat. Persephone isn't a threat, I think. I can't think of anyone else…"

Leo looked unsatisfied.

"No, it's not one of them."

"Anything else?"

Leo did not meet Hazel's eyes, he watched his own nimble fingers fiddle and work with the smale machine parts.

"I-I don't think so."

She felt her heart sink. He did not want to tell her everything, of course he did not, they were not so close friends. Still, it made her sad.

"Okay." Hazel rose, and offered him a hand. "Please come and eat now. We will speak of who this other enemy could be with all the others."

"I suppose I could need some food." Leo sighed and took Hazel's hand. He got up, and once again, they stood really close to each other, face to face. Hazel felt her heart doing flips inside her chest. They still held hands.

Leo's eyes still looked uncertain. Behind that, all she could see darkness, darkness and sadness he would not show.

"We will figure this out." Hazel promised quietly.

Leo just looked at her, his eyes wondering and dark.

Hazel really wanted to stand there forever, with Leo near her, looking into his brilliant brown eyes. Leo did not move either.

Slowly their faces started to move forward. Now Hazel wanted to run, but she did not.

Leo looked insecure, biting his lip. His eyes were on Hazels mouth.

The space between their faces grew smaller and smaller. The only thing Hazel saw was Leo's face, that cute, Sammy-like face, coming closer and closer.

_This is wrong_, the sane part of her said. _What about Frank?!_

But Hazel put that thought away. The only thing that mattered was that she was standing there with Leo's hand in hers, and his lips slowly moving toward hers.

_Mowhahaha! XD Next chapter probably comes tomorrow... Please review :) _


	4. Chapter 4

_Hello again! XD Here we go with another chapter. Hope you liked the last one and will like this too! :) _

**Chapter 4 – Piper the Boy-expert**

"Leo?" A voice said.

Leo and Hazel sprang away from each other. Leo fell into a table, which collapsed with a _CRASH!_

Hazel felt how her cheeks got tomato-red. Jason was standing in front of them, frowning down at Leo.

"What are you doing?"

Leo rose quickly and began to pick up the things that had fallen to the floor when the table broke.

"Er, nothing. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"Piper told me to check on you two." Jason said and smirked. "Hazel, you promised to call if he started to fight!"

Hazel tried to laugh.

"Yeah, well, I k-kind of forgot." She said. "Why did Piper want to check on us, anyway? I can handle Leo by myself, you know."

"I dunno. She just said that someone should come to you and see if 'you did something stupid'." Jason said and laughed a little. "Girls, huh? No offense, Hazel."

Once again, Hazel felt how she blushed. Did Piper know? She was a daughter of the love goddess, after all.

"Well, we're okay." Leo said. Small traces of red were on his cheeks, but he pulled off a grin. Hazel felt better, seeing his normal grin again.

"Noticed. C'mon, you have to eat."

They had no choice but follow Jason to the mess hall again. Leo pulled out some small mechanic things and started fiddling with them. He did not meet Hazel's eyes.

Hazel felt jittery. What had happened?! She seriously had considered kissing Leo?! The thought of that gave her a warm feeling, but she shook it off.

_No, _she thought. _No, it was nothing._

When they came to the mess hall again, nothing had changed. Piper smiled to Leo.

"You know, Valdez, even machines need some time to relax, or whatever you call it. You need to eat."

Leo did not respond. He just sat down and started to eat a sandwich.

Hazel sat down next to Frank. He still looked a little miffed about that she left him to check on Leo, but Hazel smiled a little to him and he softened.

"What's happening today?" Nico said. "How long will it take to reach Greece?"

Again, everyone looked at Leo. He did not seem to notice. Then he saw that everyone was staring at him, and tried to say with his mouth full:

"In this tempo, maybe a few days."

"_Days_?! I thought this ship was meant to sail fast." Frank said, glaring at Leo.

Hazel felt her heart sink. She thought they made their peace in the underwater camp, but apparently Frank still had bitter feelings towards Leo. It ripped Hazel's heart apart to see them like this.

But Leo did not respond. Instead he stared down at his sandwich. He did not look annoyed or something, more like he did not hear Frank at all.

Wait. _He just accepted Frank's mean words like that?!_

The air became tense. Frank continued glaring at Leo, who did not seem to notice.

Jason cleared his throat.

"Is it possible to sail faster, Leo?" he asked.

"What? Oh, yeah. I think so. And I've been examining the burning marks, and it is kinda' weird… That fire really should have damaged the ship, but _nada. _Nothing serious. I don't know, but it is like the water healed the ship a little…"

He frowned, obviously very confused of this, but Coach Hedge said:

"But that's good, right? So let's just sail faster to Greece, get out our cupcakes from Tartarus and blow up some giants!"

No one responded.

At last, Leo rose from his chair.

"Well, I've got work to do. You guys can just hang around. I'll call if I need help."

He had not even eaten his whole sandwich.

"Wait!" Hazel said.

Leo turned, and their eyes met.

She gulped.

"Just… Keep your eyes open for monsters."

"Of course." He smiled, but it looked distant. "What else do you need eyes for?"

Leo left. No one said anything.

"Well, if we don't really have anything to do, I'm gonna watch some TV." Coach Hedge said and yawned. "You're welcome to bring me some snacks."

The coach left the table, humming a song he probably heard on TV. Hazel was not sure.

"I'll try to contact my dad, asking if he could try to help Percy and Annabeth." Nico said and shot Hazel a look. "Wanna come with?"

"No thanks." She said. The thought of speaking with her dad, the god of the Underworld, did not sound exactly appealing. "Just say hi from me."

Jason looked uneasy.

"Well, I spoke to Reyna before and it wasn't really fun… I think I only made things worse."

Piper gripped his hand.

"No, you didn't. It isn't your fault that Reyna is angry." She said.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I'll contact Camp Half-Blood and tell them that Reyna isn't going to slow down, and that she's really angry."

Piper kissed him.

"I'll come with you, Sparky."

They left the table.

"Hazel," Frank suddenly said. "I-I have to ask you something."

Hazel felt panic crawling up in her throat.

_Here it comes,_ she thought. _He is going to ask me if I am in love with Leo._

So she did the only thing she could do.

"I'll have to go to the bathroom." Hazel said quickly. "You can tell me later, right?"

Without waiting for an answer, she ran off.

Hazel was standing in the bathroom, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Tears streamed down her cheeks, her eyes red and puffy from crying. If she looked like a mess on the outside, it was nothing compared to how she felt inside.

_A complete fool. I am so stupid, _she kept thinking.

Why was it so hard to just forget Leo? She loved Frank. She truly did. But Leo… She just liked him because he was so much like Sammy. A love from the past she could not forget.

Right?

But the more time Hazel spent with Leo, the more she realized that he was not just a copy of Sammy. He was a different person. Sure, he was really alike Sammy in personality and appearance, but there _were _some differences. Leo loved machines and mechanics. He got these fire-powers. But not just that: his past was darker, and that had affected him really much. If you looked really thoroughly into Leo's eyes, you could see a dark kind of light in the back of them. He never showed anyone this sadness, he kept it hidden behind all the jokes. Hazel had the feeling that when Leo was alone he thought about his mother and let that sadness slip out. Sammy had not been like that: he has had some problems, but nothing compared to Leo's.

But now, Leo seemed to be losing control. He was distant, quiet, did not joke, all because of that dream. Hazel wanted him to be the old Leo again, the one with no problems. The one who kept the other's spirits up.

Leo was basically all the good Sammy-things combed with the bad Leo-things (his past, for example).

Hazel's eyes stung. She washed her face with cold water, and cursed herself for being so stupid. Why did she need to cry?

"Get a grip, Levesque." She muttered. "It isn't you who has the biggest problems in the group. Percy and Annabeth are in _Tartarus_."

Hazel shot a look at her reflection. She did look better, but all the traces from crying were not gone.

She remembered one time when Sammy had been ill, and she was alone in school. Rufus had bullied her so much that day, so she had locked herself in the girl's bathroom and cried. Then she heard a knock on the door. Sammy was standing out there with a red nose and tired eyes.

"I just wanted to check on you." He explained and grinned, a little nervously.

"But you are ill!" Hazel had protested. "You will get worse."

"I don't care. It is a stupid reason for you to be bullied."

They had hugged, and Hazel thought she never been so happy to see him.

Would Leo had done the same thing? She imagined him standing outside the girl's bathroom door, fiddling with some mechanic things and smiling nervously at her. It made her heart race a little faster.

_Oh, gods. Think about Frank. How nice he is too you and that cozy feeling you get when you are with him, _she thought desperately.

But Leo's face just would not stop popping up when Hazel closed her eyes.

She took a deep breath and walked out from the bathroom.

"Are you okay?"

Hazel turned so fast that she almost fell. Piper was walking towards her with a worried expression.

"Hazel, you look like you've been crying! What's wrong?"

Hazel considered saying that everything was fine, but Piper had the charmspeaking on her side.

"I-I just feel a little ...uh, bad." Hazel said.

"Boys?" Piper asked and raised an eyebrow.

_How does she do that? Reading my thoughts? _Hazel thought.

"Yeah, kind of."

"Come on. I'll listen."

"No, it's okay." Hazel said. "I just want some time alone."

Piper gave her a quizzical look, but sighed.

"Fine. But if you want to talk, I'm free. You know, as a daughter of Aphrodite I am pretty good at boy-stuff… I think." She winked.

Hazel forced a smile.

"Of course. I will see you later, then."

She walked by Piper, on her way to the stables. Hazel liked it down there: it was peaceful, and it reminded her of horses.

Hazel just sat down there, watched the fishes and other sea animals swam by. It was a whole new world down there.

Unfortunately, the sea just made Hazel think about Percy. Was he okay? Was Annabeth? She maybe just known them for a short time, but it felt weird with them not being around.

But they were not dead. Hazel could feel it. They were somewhere in Tartarus, probably fighting a monster.

Hazel did not really keep track of time. She just sat there until she felt her stomach rumble. How many hours had it been?

She got up and walked back to the mess hall. No one was there. She ordered on of the plates to make her a sandwich.

"Hazel?"

Nico rounded the corner. He looked tired.

"Hi." Hazel said. "What happened?"

"Well," Nico said bitterly, "he didn't really appreciate me bothering him. Dead may be universal, but he surely was torn between Hades and Pluto. He wouldn't take me seriously, so I'm not so sure he will help."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. He is not an exactly caring father, huh? Or is Pluto better?"

Hazel frowned.

"Well, I do not think so. I mean, he has not been speaking with me so much."

Nico nodded. He did look a lot better since they saved him from the giants, but he was still weak.

"You should rest." Hazel said. "You look tired."

"But you won't need me then? I don't want to be asleep while you are saving the world."

"I will wake you up if I have to." Hazel laughed.

"Well, okay then." Nico muttered and walked away.

Hazel finished her sandwich. She was bored, so she decided to go and find someone to help or something.

She ran into Jason, who was sitting on the floor in a corridor, looking grim.

"What is wrong, Jason?" Hazel asked.

He did not answer. Hazel sat down next to him and looked at him until he finally said:

"The camps. I've messed up everything. I was send to unite the both camps, and instead I just make Reyna attack Camp Half-Blood sooner and angrier."

"Jason, it is not your fault. Juno started this. And if someone is stupid, it is Reyna, because she is not listening to you."

Jason smiled a little.

"You always know what to say, don't you?"

Hazel shrugged.

"I know you."

He laughed.

"Thanks, Hazel. And, uh, you've seen Piper? She left me in the middle of the conversation with Chiron."

"I saw her a little while ago, I think she was on her way to her cabin. And, by the way, who is this Chiron? You mean _the _Chiron, centaur and trainer of heroes?" Hazel said.

"Thanks. Yeah, it is that Chiron, he is camp director on Camp Half-Blood. He's immortal as long as he trains heroes."

Hazel felt fuzzy. It was really _the _Chiron who ruled the Greek camp. The immortal centaur that trained all the famous heroes. It almost made her feel jealous; why did not Camp Jupiter have someone like that?

Then she felt guilty. Reyna was a really good praetor, and she ruled the camp very well. Sadly, you could not say the same thing about Octavian.

"I have to go and find Piper." Jason said and rose. "See you later, Hazel."

As Jason walked away, Hazel wished she and Frank had a relationship more like Piper and Jason's or Annabeth and Percy's. They seemed to be so at ease together, and it was hard to believe that they ever had relationship problems, like if one of them would be in love with someone else.

_No, you are NOT in love with Leo!_ The sane part of Hazel thought.

_But if I am?_ She complained.

_Then deny it!_

Hazel sighed and started to go to her cabin.

_I know, it was horrible and boring. Next chapter will be better! __And I know that many of you thinks Percabeth has a better relationship than Jasper (I think so too), but htis is what Hazel thinks._

_See you!_


	5. Chapter 5

**_Hi! _**

**_I know the last chapter was pretty boring, so I hope this will be better XD Thanks for the reviews!_**

**_Review and enjoy!_**

**Chapter 5 – Sweet dreams**

Hazel thought she knew nightmares. She had dreamed pretty horrible things. But this nightmare was far worse than anything she ever dreamed.

She was trapped in a dark room. Suddenly it started to rumble, and a horrible voice hissed:

"You cannot escape your destiny, daughter of Pluto, any more than you can escape from this chamber."

Gaea.

Stones started to fall from the ceiling. It would soon collapse, and Gaea was right: Hazel could not escape.

She screamed, but of course no one could hear her. Just as the ceiling started to collapse, the dream shifted.

Hazel was standing in Camp Jupiter, but she was all alone. Then, from the earth, all her friends popped up; Frank, Leo, Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Reyna and Nico. Their eyes were closed, and they all had that sleepy smile Gaea used to have.

In Gaea's voice, they all said:

"You will end up as your mother did: controlled, unrespected and stupid."

Hazel wanted to scream that her mother was not stupid, it was Gaea who was the stupid one, and the seven would defeat her. But she could not find her voice.

Again, the dream shifted – now she was standing in Arachne's lair. But instead of Annabeth and Percy, it was Frank and Leo who was dangling from the edge of the abyss. They both had white faces and terrified eyes.

"Hazel, help me!" Leo yelled.

"I'm losing my grip, Hazel!" Frank screamed.

Hazel could not move. She was standing there, scared out of her mind, just staring at the two boys. How could she choose? She loved them both.

"Choose now, Levesque, or no one will be yours." Gaea's voice said. It was coming from the pit.

Leo's face became even paler. He started to lose his grip. Frank was trying to hold on with one hand.

"Stop it, Gaea!" Hazel whispered. "Please stop it."

"Choose." The word echoed all around her. Gaea laughed coldly.

"Hazel, please..." Frank whispered. "You love me, don't you? I am the only one for you, right?"

Tears started to escape Hazel's eyes. Did she love him? Yes. But as he really the only one?

"Can't you just change shape to a bird or something?!" Hazel said desperately. "Then I can save both of you!"

"You know that in the end, you'll have to choose." Leo said. "Or…"

Then, they both lost their grip at the same time. They fell down, and Hazel screamed.

"Hazel." Somebody was shaking her gently, trying to wake her up.

"No! Stop! Get them back, Gaea!"

"Hazel, it's me."

Hazel opened her eyes, but it took a while before the face in front of her came to focus. Leo was standing over her with a worried expression.

"Oh. Leo." She blushed.

"Are you okay? You screamed."

Her cheeks got redder.

"I-I'm fine. Just a dream."

Still, Hazel's heart raced. She was breathing hard. The dream had really terrified her.

"You don't look 'fine'. You dreamed a nightmare?" Leo asked. His dark brown eyes were gentle, but his voice sounded nervous.

"Yeah… Gaea just wants to scare me." Hazel tried hard not to shudder. "But it is just dreams."

Leo frowned that cute way Sammy always did when he tried to figure something out.

"What happened?"

He sat down on the edge of the bed, looking ready to run away as fast as he could if he needed to. That almost made Hazel smile.

"Just, you know the usual. Your friends turning evil. You almost dying with Gaea laughing at you. And-" She stopped herself.

"What?" Leo looked curious, but also worried.

Hazel wanted to tell him, but something stopped her.

"Nothing. It was nothing." She said.

They sat there in an awkward silence for a moment, until Hazel asked:

"What time is it?"

"I'm pretty sure it is 6 AM." Leo told her and grinned a little.

Hazel blushed.

"I woke you up?"

"No… No, I was already awake."

She noticed how tired Leo looked and the dark lines around his eyes.

"You have been up all night, Leo?" she asked him. "Please say you slept for a few hours."

Leo laughed.

"Sure, I slept a few hours. Happy?" He asked and winked. Hazel's heart flipped.

"No, seriously, Leo. You can't avoid sleep. Soon you will pass out when you are steering, and then we will have some serious trouble."

"Nah, I'm okay. Supreme Commander Leo doesn't need any sleep."

"But the regular Leo does." Hazel said. "The one who is not a machine."

The air became a little more tense. Leo shifted uneasily.

"Look, Hazel, I'm sorry for that. I wasn't… myself."

His eyes became dark. Hazel wanted to jump into them and light a fire, making them warm and nice again.

"You don't need to apologize." Hazel said softly. "You didn't do anything wrong. But it is wrong that you are feeling that way. We don't just need you here because of your mechanical talents, you are one of the seven. You are one in the team."

Leo did not respond. He did not look convinced.

"We are all on Team Leo, remember?" Hazel said and tried to cheer him up. He did not even raise his head; he stared at his own hands.

"Yeah. Right." He said at last. "Well, I should go. I have to check if Festus seen any monster. And you should go to sleep again."

Hazel blushed. She had not realized that she still wore her night gown, or that she was lying in her bed. Her hair probably looked awful too.

_Why do I care? _She asked herself silently.

_Because Leo is here._

Leo rose and tried to grin, but he looked too nervous and too dark to pull it off.

"I'll see you later then. Sleep tightly."

He turned and walked to the door. Without really knowing what she was doing, Hazel got up from bed and ran to Leo.

"Good luck." She said, and kissed his cheek.

Leo blushed so hard that his cheeks started to smoke.

"Uh, sure. You too."

For a moment, they stood really close and just stared into each other's eyes. Leo's cheeks were still smoking a little. Hazel could feel his warm breath.

Then Leo left the cabin.

Hazel cursed herself for being so stupid. She really had kissed him on the cheek?! What was she thinking?! She doubted she had been thinking at all.

And, Leo's cheeks almost had caught fire. Hazel shuddered. What would have happened if the fire touched her, and she had worn the denim jacket with Frank's stick?

Still, it felt like Hazel's heart pounded twice as fast as normal. She'd been standing so close to Leo, what would have happened if…

"Stop it!" She said out loud. "Stop it, stop it, stop it! You are NOT going to fall for Leo!"

But a part of her said: _What if you already fallen for him?_

Hazel pushed that thought away. She did not feel sleepy at all; on the contrary, she was wide awake.

She decided to brush her teeth and change clothes right away. Maybe she could find Leo and tell him that the kiss had not meant anything, that it was just a friendly kiss and that she loved Frank. Sadly, she was quite sure that would just sound desperate and false.

**_So, I've decided to try to write from Leo's POV. If it will be really horrible, just review and tell me that XD I hope I won't screw up his amazing character._**

**_Review please!_**


	6. Chapter 6

**_Hello again everybody XD_**

**_New chapter, and this time, FROM LEO'S POV!_**

**_Please tell me (in a review) if I mess up. I don't want anyone to don't like Leo or so because of that I screwed up._**

**_Enjoy!_**

**Chapter 6 – Sleep, at last**

**_LEO_**

Leo was on fire.

He was standing at the helm and trying to kill the flames that danced on his cheeks. Luckily, no one was there to see this embarrassing incident.

He had tried very hard to avoid Hazel since he spoke with Frank in Camp Fish-Blood, but something always made Leo to go and see her. It was like he couldn't control his own actions when he was with her.

And Hazel was not Leo's only problem (if you could call a cute, awesome girl a problem). That nightmare he dreamed a while ago about his mom just wouldn't let him sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, that horrible image of his mother (as a ghost) staring at him with terrified eyes popped up.

_We will meet soon._

The words kept appear in Leo's thoughts, like a mini Coach Hedge inside his head poking him with a baseball bat and screaming: "WE WILL MEET SOON! WE WILL MEET SOON!". He just couldn't stop thinking about the dream. Leo thought he hadn't missed his mother so much since the first months after her dead.

Festus woke him up from his thoughts.

"No sign of a monster." Leo translated Festus' creaks.

Sure, it was a relief, but Leo wanted to do something that needed all of his concentration, like fighting a monster. He needed to get his thoughts off his mom and Hazel.

Just thinking of Hazel's name made him feel warm inside, like someone had wrapped a warm blanket around his heart. Wow, that girl really was cute. Her golden eyes, her cinnamon hair, her warm smile. Leo couldn't believe that she was related to Mr. Creepy Death Kid.

He looked at the horizon. What had Hazel said? _You are not a machine, Leo, you are a human. Humans forget. And forgive._

Leo cursed himself for telling Hazel that no one cared about him. Sure, he felt that way sometimes (okay, pretty often), but why did he have to say that to Hazel?! Now she thought he was some freak who just wanted attention.

_Wow, I am so great at chatting with girls! I tend to be a freak or run away when they kiss me! _Leo thought sarcastically.

Leo didn't know what to think about that kiss. It was a light, small kiss on the cheek, it didn't need to be anything more than friendly. Still, the thought of it made Leo smile and blush.

"Festus, where are we? What's our location?" He asked to get his mind off Hazel.

_Creak. Creak. Squeak. Creak._

"Oh, good. Soon there." Leo mumbled.

He gazed at the sea that surrounded the _Argo II._ It surely was a beautiful view, but Leo's demigod-ish powers shouted: _WARNING! WARNING! MONSTERS!_

He wondered who this other enemy his mom mentioned could be. Leo was sure it was someone from the Underworld, but the names Hazel had said didn't feel _right._ He didn't know much about the death and their world, but he was pretty sure that when he researched about demigods with fire-powers at Camp Half-Blood, he found some old myth about an evil goddess who lived in the Underworld…

Leo felt like he had forgotten something, something really important. Almost like that feeling when he forgot the sonar. That thought made him check if it was on.

He really was exhausted. The only thing he really wanted to do right now was to sleep in a bed, but he knew it was impossible. Leo didn't want to see his mom's scared face again.

Gods, he missed her.

If they made it to the Doors of Death, maybe Leo would meet her there. He maybe even could smuggle her out to the real world, giving her life again. He tried to imagine that, feeling her arms around him or hearing her nice voice again.

Leo took a shaky breath and forced back the tears. No, she couldn't be saved. Esperanza Valdez was dead, and thinking that she could make it back would just drive Leo crazy.

A feeling of being watched made Leo turn. Frank was standing a few meters from him with a grim expression.

"Hi." Leo said. "What are you doing up?"

Frank shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep. And you?"

"Me neither. I'm just steering. Just a few days until we reach Greece, a week maybe." Leo said.

"Oh. Good." Frank looked uneasy. "And, uh, I am sorry for what I said before."

Leo raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"About the ship not being fast enough." Frank mumbled.

"When did you say that?" Leo frowned. He didn't remember Frank mentioning something like that.

Frank blinked.

"At breakfast yesterday. Y-You didn't hear me?"

Leo laughed bitterly. At breakfast the day before he had been thinking of his dream and how to make a hat that deleted memories, so he finally would be able to sleep.

"I guess I was lost in thoughts."

"Well, I'm sorry. It's an awesome ship, really. I can't believe you built it yourself."

Leo was surprised. This wasn't what he expected Frank to say to him.

"S'okay. And I didn't build it all by myself, my siblings helped me a lot. But thanks." He said.

Frank shifted on his feet.

They just stood there, feeling awkward, until Leo said:

"You should go to sleep. It is really early."

"I'm not so sleepy. You need any help?"

_Build me a memory-deleting hat and steer while I'll go and take a nap, then you're really helpful, _Leo wanted to say.

"No, it's okay."

"You know, you don't look okay. Your eyes are half-closed." Frank pointed out.

"What?" Leo felt his eyes closing. "No, no, I'm okay. Really."

Frank smiled a little.

"Just because I am clumsy it does not mean I can't call for you if the ship starts to fall. Set Festus on autopilot, and please don't forget the sonar. Then it will be fine."

Leo wanted to protest, but it was hopeless. His eyes were already closing, and he felt like he started to fall.

"O-Okay then." He decided. "The sonar is on. Promise to call for me if something goes wrong. Festus, you are responsible for Mr. Shape Shifter so he won't destroy my master ship."

Festus creaked. Leo sat him on autopilot, and started to walk to his cabin.

"Call for me if something goes wrong, okay?"

"You can trust me, Valdez." Frank said.

"I wish." Leo snorted.

He almost fell down dead on the way to the cabin, but finally he was there. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep.

"Morning, Flaming Valdez." Piper's voice said.

"What?"

Leo sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"10 AM, sleepyhead." Piper smirked. "Or are you too tired to get up, Sleeping Beauty?"

"Ah, shut up, Beauty Queen." Leo said and yawned.

Piper was standing in front of him. Her hair was braided with red feathers today, and she wore tattered jeans and a green t-shirt with the words _LIVE EVERY DAY AS IF IT IS YOUR LAST. _As always, she looked pretty, but Leo didn't care about that. She was just a friend.

He was surprised that he hadn't dreamed of his mother, and the fact that he really had fallen asleep this time.

"Now when you're awake, come with me. Everybody's up, they are eating breakfast."

Leo froze.

"Is the ship okay? Is Festus alright? No monsters?"

Piper laughed, and Leo felt like they were back at Wilderness School again. Just the two of them, joking around and having fun. It was the first school where Leo hadn't considered to run away from.

"Everything is alright, Valdez. Come on, you look terrible. You need to eat."

Leo didn't protest. He followed Piper to the mess hall. Jason smiled when he saw Leo.

"Here he comes, our one and only Supreme Commander: Sleeping Beauty!"

Leo bowed and grinned.

"Thank you! Thank you very much, dear fans. You'll get autographs later!"

He sat down and ordered his plate to give him eggs and bacon. Everybody continued to eat while discussing random things ("No, I'm not allergic to pumpkin, I just don't like the taste of it!" and "You really like that t-shirt?! Seriously?!").

Leo felt someone's eyes on him, and when he looked up he saw that Hazel, who sat on the opposite end of the table, was regarding him with a little smile. When she saw that he was looking she blushed and looked away. Leo felt himself blush a little too.

"So, now then?" Coach Hedge said. "Valdez, any news?"

"Well, according to Festus we are in Greece in about a week." Almost everybody started to protest. Leo sighed. "I know it is late, but we can't do anything about it."

"But it's soon August 1th!" Jason protested. "That's when Gaea will awake!"

"It is August 1th in exactly one week." Hazel said. "We will be there by then."

"Hazel's right." Piper said. "We will defeat Gaea, close the Doors _and_ save Percy and Annabeth."

The silence after that was eerie. Leo had the feeling that everybody was thinking the same thing as he did: _Are we gonna make it?_

And Leo knew that if the Doors had to be locked from both sides, someone had to stay trapped in Tartarus. He looked at everyone at the table. No one of them deserved to get trapped in a huge pit of evil.

"Any news about Percy and Annabeth?" Jason asked Hazel and Nico.

"Well, they aren't dead yet." Nico answered.

"Yet." Leo repeated.

"Nico tried to speak with Pluto-I mean Hades-but he was too torn between his Roman and Greek aspects so he could not get him to try to help Percy and Annabeth." Hazel said. She sounded sad and angry, and Leo wished he hadn't said anything.

"It's okay. They will make it through." Leo promised.

"How can you be so sure?" Nico asked him and frowned.

Leo took a deep breath. He didn't know really, he had just blurted that out 'cause he wanted Hazel to be happy again. But if he really thought about it, he was pretty sure Percy and Annabeth would make it.

"You said it yourself, that they are really strong demigods." Leo reminded Death Kid. "And Mr. Poseidon-ish Powers together with Ms. Scary Smart Blond-Girl are smart, strong and experienced. They are unstoppable."

It was quiet for a moment. Leo wondered if his words would mean anything for the others. He just told them what he thought.

"You know what, Repair Boy is right." Piper said suddenly. She said it with such a force that everybody started to nod and agree. She probably didn't know that she used charmspeak. "Percy and Annabeth adventured together before, and they are a really good team. They will make it through."

Leo searched for a sign in Hazel's face that she believed in it, but she was looking down at her plate. Unforunately, Frank noticed that Leo was looking and put an arm around her protectively.

Without even realizing, Leo had eaten all of his food. He felt stronger than ever after a few hours sleep and a plate of eggs and bacon.

"I didn't contact Nyssa the day before yesterday, so I am going to Iris Message her. You can just hang out and do whatever you wanna do." He said to the others.

Coach Hedge looked happy, but the other looked a little miffed.

"So there is _nothing _we can do? Are we just going to 'hang out' and try to avoid thinking of Percy and Annabeth?!" Piper said.

"Whoa, take it easy, Beauty Queen." Leo grinned. "If you want to, you can clean up a little. But at the moment, that's all you can do."

"Plus, it will certainly pop up some monster." Hazel added. "We are in the Mare Nostrum, after all."

Piper still looked baffled, but Coach Hedge grinned and said:

"Well, cupcakes, you're gonna have to clean up by yourselves, 'cause this satyr needs to watch TV and take a nap." He left the table, with a _clop clop clop_ from his hooves.

"Fine then. I'll start to clean up." Piper sighed. "Jason, you're coming?"

"Sure." Jason shrugged. "But 'hanging out' sounded kinda' nice too…"

"Come on, Lightning Boy, I don't wanna do this alone." Piper dragged Jason with her.

Nico frowned at Leo.

"Don't all these TV's and stuff attract monsters?"

Leo grinned.

"Of course! But we got the sonar, and a fire-breathing dragon head. Don't worry."

Nico raised an eyebrow. Then he rose from his seat and left the table.

Now it was only Frank, Hazel and Leo left. The silence was kinda' awkward, so Leo decided to leave.

"I'll see you guys later." He shot Hazel a look, but she wouldn't meet his eyes. Maybe she was embarrassed about that kiss.

Anyway, Leo walked up on deck and dug out a drachma from his pockets.

"A rainbow…" He muttered. "Festus, you know how to make a rainbow?"

It was a sunny day, typical summer-weather. The sunlight would easily make a rainbow. All Leo needed was water.

He found an old bottle of water someone probably forgot some days ago and poured it down at the floor. Soon it was enough water for the sunlight to reflect in the water as a rainbow.

"Oh, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me Nyssa, Cabin 9 or the forges, Camp Half-Blood." Leo said. It sounded pretty weird, but when he threw the drachma in the water it vanished and a dim image of Nyssa standing in the forges showed.

"Hey, sis'." Leo said. Nyssa turned and looked surprised.

"Leo! How's it going?"

"Pretty good. We're on our way to Greece to save Percy and Annabeth and all that other stuff." Leo said and grinned. "How's everybody?"

Nyssa shrugged.

"As always, I suppose."

"You've been exploring more of Bunker 9?"

"Not yet." Nyssa looked uneasy. "Chiron doesn't like us working down there. But we will soon. Thanks for the hand, by the way."

Leo had built a robot hand of Celestial Bronze that could summon fire, so the other Hephaestus kids could go in too Bunker 9 without Leo being there. It wasn't that great, but he still felt happy that his siblings liked it.

"It worked?" He asked.

"Yeah, surprisingly good. The rock should have felt that it wasn't a real hand that touched it…"

"It is a _rock_, Nyssa."

"…But it worked. So, yeah, thanks."

They were silent for a moment, until Leo said:

"And, well, I found something pretty cool a while ago when we were in Rome."

Nyssa didn't look surprised.

"What you think is 'pretty cool' is either super dangerous or hopeless, little brother."

"Hey!" Leo protested.

She sighed.

"Go on."

"Yeah… You remember Archimedes? Well, I kinda'... found his book."

Nyssa's expression turned from confusion to disbelief to astonishment in the matter of seconds.

"_What?! _The real book?! _Archimedes'_ book?!"

"Yep. I've copied the scrolls and sent them. They will be there by tomorrow. You will need them, his work maybe can help you defend camp from the Romans."

"Wow, Leo… This is amazing! Do you know how much we can use this?! I-"

"I get it." Leo laughed. "Well, good luck then. Start to work on the spheres first, they are totally awesome."

He swung his foot through the Iris Message so it dissolved. Leo almost laughed out loud; Nyssa's face had been priceless.

Then, like a sword cutting through a monster, a voice cut through his thoughts:

"LEO!"

**_Okay, I know. I am really bad at writing about Leo. Please review and tell me what I can do better! _**

**_Bye!_**


	7. Chapter 7

**_Hello again, guys! Another chapter from Leo's POV. Thanks for the reviews!_**

**Chapter 7 – Hugging**

**_LEO_**

Leo ran towards the voice. What was wrong this time? If it was another monster who wanted to blow up his ship, he was going to kill it.

"What?! What happened?!" Leo asked. He was standing in the sickbay, where Piper and Jason were.

"Why is _that _thing here and what is it?!" Piper cried and pointed at the floor.

A tiny screwdriver with thin legs was running in circles on the floor.

Leo laughed, all worry leaving him.

"There it is! I made it while building the ship, then it just disappeared. Thanks, Pipes."

Piper and Jason stared at him in disbelief. He picked up the screwdriver and shuffled it down in one of the toolbelts pockets.

"If that's it, I'm going back to the helm and continue to steer." Leo said. "See you guys later."

He left the sickbay, relieved and disappointed at the same time. Relieved because no one was hurt, but disappointed because he needed to fight a monster. That would get his mind off all the weird things that happened lately.

Leo got up on the floor where all the cabins where. His master ship truly was amazing, but all he could think of now was what he could have done better.

"Leo?" A new voice said.

He turned to see Hazel, who stuck out her head from her cabin.

"Hi." Leo said.

"What are you doing down here? I thought you were steering." Hazel asked.

"Piper called for me. She found my screwdriver." Leo felt awkward. Without really knowing he started fiddling with some small machine parts. "What's up?"

Hazel shrugged. She looked bored.

"Nothing. I'm trying to read a book in Latin. It's harder than you think."

Leo raised an eyebrow.

"You read Latin? Isn't that even harder than Ancient Greek?"

"Well, I've never tried to read Ancient Greek before, so I wouldn't know." She said.

"Oh, right. If you're that bored, you can come with me up to deck. I maybe have something you can do." Leo blurted out.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ He said to himself. _Stay away, she is Frank's girlfriend!_

Hazel looked surprised.

"Really? Okay, then."

She followed him to deck. Leo checked that everything was okay, and listened to Festus creaks.

"You really understand what he's saying?" Hazel asked.

Leo shrugged and tried to not look too nervous.

"Yeah. Some son-of-Hephaestus-thing."

Hazel smiled, and Leo felt how he blushed.

"That's really strange, but cool." She said.

Their eyes locked. Leo felt jittery and nervous. Those golden eyes were beautiful.

Then Hazel looked away. Small traces of red appeared on her cheeks.

"You know…" She said nervously. "I thought that after that flashback, I would finally be able to move on and accept that you're not Sammy. But the truth is, every time I see you…" Hazel stopped.

They fell into an awkward silence.

"How was he?" Leo asked. Speaking about Sammy always made him self-conscious, but he wanted to know what Hazel liked so much about him.

Hazel's eyes got watery.

"Well, he was like you." She said. "You saw him, he looked exactly like you. You are very alike in personality too; Sammy always joked around and played pranks. He was nice, very gentle." Hazel blinked back tears.

Leo nodded. He wondered what would have happened if Hazel hadn't died. Would she be his great-grandmother? And would the prophecy of the seven even exist? Without Hazel it would be incomplete, so he would be a normal demigod (as normal as a demigod could be), right? And if this prophecy didn't exist, and Leo wasn't one of the seven, then Gaea maybe never had killed his mother.

_Stop, Valdez. Don't think like that, _he taught himself. _It will just make you sad._

"And-" Now tears were running down Hazel's cheeks. "And he always helped me. He never c-cared about skin color or other things that the other kids bullied me for. He didn't think of my mom as a witch."

She was really crying now. Leo didn't know what to do. How do you make a girl to stop cry? Was there some sort of button or switch that could make them stop?

Hazel put her face in her hands.

Carefully Leo walked to her. What was he supposed to do now? Just stand there and watch her cry? He tried to remember how his mother done when he cried, but it was so long ago. He had a vague memory that she lifted him up and spun around, but that was when he was a kid.

So very uncertainly Leo put an arm around her. Hazel rested her head against his chest and continued to sob. He held her and waited for her to stop cry.

Leo thought it felt very strange. He wasn't used to hugging or comforting people. Hazel was warm, and her cinnamon-colored hair smelled good. Leo's heart was racing against his will.

_She's Frank's girlfriend, she likes him, _he thought. But it felt very good to hug Hazel.

Slowly Hazel stopped sobbing. Leo was just standing there, hugging her silently. He didn't know what to say.

"Thanks, Leo." Hazel said after a while. She raised her head and smiled at him. "It is just so confusing, I loved Sammy, and now when I'm in a relationship with Frank you suddenly pop up…"

Leo's heart sank. Was that all he was for her? A copy of Sammy that was messing with her feelings?

Hazel seemed to realize that too. Her eyes widened.

"No, no, I don't mean it that way. You are Leo, and you're amazing. It is just… You are so much alike him, it's scary."

"Well, he sounds pretty awesome, but I'm sure that he couldn't summon fire or speak with machines." Leo joked. Hazel giggled.

"No, indeed. That's your powers."

Her smile was warm and made Leo's heart leap. They were standing so close, his arms still were wrapped around her.

Hazel's eyes really were beautiful.

_No, no, no, no, NO, _a voice in Leo's head warned. _Back away NOW, Valdez._

But he didn't.

Hazel's smile wavered. It seemed like she realized how close they were standing now. Her cheeks were bright read.

Leo felt his own cheeks grew warmer and warmer.

_You're not going to catch fire now, idiot! _That annoying voice nagged. _You wanna kill Frank and steal his girlfriend?!_

He tried to control it, and soon he cooled down.

Hazel was still standing close to Leo, gazing in to his eyes.

Leo caught himself wondering what her lips would taste like.

The space between their faces grew smaller. It felt like someone else controlled Leo, pulling him forward.

Then, suddenly, Hazel stiffened. Her eyes widened.

"Don't move." She whispered to Leo. "Stand completely still."

Leo obliged. He felt it too, something was wrong. Someone was standing behind him.

"So, we meet again, Leo Valdez." A voice, cold as ice, spoke. "You've missed us?"

Leo turned around, and found himself staring at the Boreads Zethes and Calais.

Their faces looked grim.

"Kill them?" Calais asked.

"This time, dear brother, I'm going to agree with you. But don't get used to it."

And the two winged gods threw themselves at Leo and Hazel.

**_You'll have to wait to know what is going to happen :) Please review!_**


	8. Chapter 8

**_Hellu everyone! Thanks for all the reviews, you're all awesome! 3_**

**_So, enjoy!_**

**Chapter 8 – The Boreads visits **

**_HAZEL_**

Hazel cursed herself for being so stupid. Why hadn't she taken her _spatha _with her?! It was still down in her cabin, and she definitely hadn't time to go there and get it.

So she just dodged the winged god's attack. She rolled on the floor and got up.

"So, exactly who are you two?" Hazel asked.

The thinner one smiled coldly. He had weird clothes, but Hazel had seen stranger. She was used to see modern people wear odd outfits now.

The other god was bigger. He wore a t-shirt that read _I LOVE HOCKEY_ and hold a bag of chips in his arms.

Both of them had icy white hair, and wings sprouting out from their backs. They radiated some kind of cold, icy power that made Hazel shudder. She didn't really know if it was because of the gods or just the cold.

But before any of them could answer, Leo shot fire toward the gods. They both screamed and dodged it. The fire spluttered before it could reach the other side of the ship, and Hazel suspected that Leo was careful and tried to avoid setting the ship on flames again.

"I _knew _I smelled fire on you, Leo Valdez!" The thin one said in a triumphant voice.

"Fire is bad." The bigger god added.

The thin one smiled and shot ice from his hand toward the helm. Leo's expression turned angry. Hazel felt how the temperature dropped.

"Stop that." He said and tried to sound calm. "Don't even think about freezing my ship."

"You know these two, Leo?" Hazel asked and gulped when the god started to freeze the floor.

Leo shot fire again, this time on the floor. The ice melted.

It wasn't like a fight at all. The gods just stood there and smiled, one of them freezing the ship calmly. Leo shot small columns of fire to melt the ice, but no one attacked. The calm mood scared Hazel more than a fight would have done.

"Let's just say we've met before." Leo answered, his expression grim. "This is Zethes and Calais."

The names didn't help Hazel too understand who they were, but she didn't say anything.

"A new sidekick, Valdez?" The thinner one's cold smile grew bigger. "What happened with the dragon-suitcase of yours?"

These words apparently meant much. Leo's eyes got as dark as the blackest night, his expression turned from grim to terribly mad. Suddenly columns as tall as Hazel of white, hot fire shot from his hands.

"Don't you _dare _speaking of him, Zethes." Leo said, his voice trembling with anger. "If it wasn't for your sister, he would still have a body."

"I say whatever I want, Fire Boy." Zethes said coldly. "And, actually, it wasn't Khione who knocked him out the second time."

"If she hadn't knocked him out the first time, maybe the second time never happened!"

Hazel slowly started to understand.

"Are you… Are you speaking about Festus?!" She asked.

Leo didn't respond. He was trembling with anger, and his hands were burning with white, hot fire.

"Of course, daughter of Pluto." Zethes said and smiled to Hazel. "But the dragon was given a second chance of life, exactly like you."

Hazel stiffened.

So this was why the figure mast-head was a dragon. It was Festus, but just the head. He had been a full-size bronze dragon before. It made Hazel fuzzy to think about how big he had been. Someway Leo had attached the head to the ship and given Festus life again.

"Kill them!" Calais said impatiently.

"You're right, my brother. I'm getting bored of this conversation too. Let's just kill them."

"Yay!" Calais said happily.

"Khione sent you, didn't she?" Leo suddenly said. "You weren't interested in killing us when we were in Québec, but your sister hated us at first sight. Why would you suddenly want to kill us?"

Both Calais and Zethes stiffened. Zethes eyes were dangerously dark when he looked at Leo.

"No one _sent _us, Fire Boy. We control our actions ourselves, the opposite to you puny demigods."

"You were demigods before you became gods." Leo reminded Zethes, who got even angrier.

"Doesn't matter!" He snapped. "You demigods are being played with, don't you see that?! The gods are using you to close the Doors. They don't care if you will die or not, they just want Gaea back to sleep so they can get back to rule the world in peace from Olympus."

Hazel spoke up.

"Do _you _want to live in a world where Gaea is destroying everything and everyone?!" She asked him.

"Destroy!" Calais said and clapped his hands.

Zethes looked a little uneasy.

"She will reward us. Khione was right from the beginning, our father is foolish. Boreas just want to look good in Aeolus eyes. He doesn't see the whole picture."

"But _you_ do." Hazel said. "You see it. Gaea will destroy the world if she wakes up. How will you get rewarded if the world doesn't exist?"

The gods looked uncertain.

"Destroy?" Calais asked.

"I guess you're right, demigod." Zethes looked impressed. "But that doesn't mean we are on your side. I will speak with Gaea about our reward. But watch your backs, demigods, if she gives us a better offer we will come back."

And in a swirl of cold wind and snow they were gone.

The fire in Leo's hands spluttered. He looked embarrassed.

"Are you okay?" He asked Hazel.

"I'm fine." She said and tried to smile. "Just a little cold. Who were they?"

"The Boreads. They are sons of Boreas, god of the North Wind. I don't know his Roman name…"

"Aquilon, I think." Hazel said.

Leo looked really shaken. He fiddled with some machine parts really fast, put together them and took apart it in the matter of seconds.

"Are _you _okay?" She asked him, frowning. "You got really upset when he spoke about Festus."

He didn't answer. Hazel walked to him and touched his arm.

"It was nothing." Leo tried to grin, but it looked more like a grimace. "Just something that happened a while ago. So, you hungry?"

Hazel got annoyed. It was something that bothered him, why couldn't he just tell her?

_Because he is smart, he know I am Frank's girlfriend and he don't want to destroy my relationship by getting too close to me, _the sane part of her thought.

But at the same time, a small part of her said: _He is THAT amazing. Just give in, girl, I like Leo._

"Please, Leo." Hazel pleaded. "Just tell me."

Leo hesitated, but then opened his mouth to say something. But before he could say something, Nico came running.

"It's time for lunch. Are you coming?" He asked them.

His eyes fell on Hazel's hand, which was still holding Leo's arm. Hazel blushed and let go of it.

"Sure. Er, what are the other doing?"

Nico shrugged.

"I just woke up. I think Jason and Piper are done tidying, and Coach Hedge is still in his cabin watching TV."

"Okay." Leo said. He didn't grin or anything. "Let's go."

They followed Nico to the mess hall. Leo was still fiddling with his mechanical things, looking down at his hands. Hazel's heart ached. He hadn't been that sad or shocked the past day. Now, he was slowly gliding back to that sad and quiet Leo that Hazel detested.

Jason and Piper were already in the mess hall. Nico, Hazel and Leo sat down and ordered their plates to give them what they wanted to eat. The table was silent.

It felt so empty. Hazel knew everybody was thinking about Percy and Annabeth. It was too quiet, too tense to pretend that nothing was wrong.

It struck Hazel that Frank wasn't there. Didn't he know it was dinner? Or was he asleep? He maybe didn't want to eat. She decided to not go and find him, he would come to the mess hall if he got hungry.

_But I would have gone and _found_ Leo if he wasn't here, _a little voice whispered in her ear.

_Shut up! _

Then Coach Hedge entered the room.

"Alright, cupcakes! What's going on?" He asked and started to eat. "Any monsters visiting yet?"

Leo looked troubled.

"Well, Hazel and I kinda' met Zethes and Calais." He said.

Jason dropped his fork, Piper said: "_What?!_", Nico barely looked up and Coach Hedge yelled: "Why didn't you call for me?!"

"What happened?!" Piper asked. The need of telling her everything washed over Hazel, but Leo spoke up.

"Nothing. Hazel convinced them that it was a bad idea to serve Gaea, so they left."

"You really mean Zethes and Calais? Boreas' sons?" Coach Hedge asked.

Jason shifted uneasily in his chair.

"Yeah, we met them before. When we was on our quest and tried to save you."

Coach Hedge frowned.

"They just left? Without fighting?! You should have called for me, I could have convinced them to fight and then hit them with my bat…"

"But we didn't need to fight!" Hazel protested. "They agreed that serving Gaea was stupid, and they won't attack again…"

"…If Gaea won't convince them again…" Leo added.

Hazel glared at Leo.

"It doesn't matter, right now they are on our side…"

"…Mostly."

"Leo!"

"So they just left?" Nico interrupted. "Without fighting or anything? Is it just me or does that sound a little weird?"

Hazel wanted to say that it was perfectly fine, but her brother was right. It had been a little too easy.

"Maybe…" She said uncertainly. "But it's still good that they left, right?"

No one answered. Everybody looked uneasy.

"If you wanna hear my opinion, I think that they just are cowards." Coach Hedge said. He didn't look uneasy at all.

"Coach! Don't call gods cowards." Piper said.

The coach shrugged.

"They gotta be cowards if they run away after a demigod tells them too. No offense."

**_Boring, I know. Please review and tell me what I can do better! Thanks :)_**


	9. Chapter 9

**_Dudes and dudettes, let my present: THE NEW CHAPTER! XD _**

**_No, seriously. A weird, short chapter._**

**Chapter 9 – Organizing thoughts**

**_HAZEL_**

Hazel didn't want to think.

But after everything that happened, there wasn't much to do. Her thoughts had been swirling around in her head, waiting for attention, but it had been too much to do. She hadn't really realized that she needed this time to think, and sometimes the only thing she wanted was to really think through all of it, but now… Well, it was time to clean up the mess in her head and organize the thoughts.

Hazel took a deep breath.

She hated doing this. Since she took Leo to that flashback, summoning it on purpose, she tried to do that more and more. Now, she could disappear in to her thoughts whenever she wanted. Literally go in in her thoughts.

"You need to do this, Levesque. Come on." Hazel said. And then she did it.

_Hazel was standing in a… What was it? It wasn't a room. The only think you could see was winds, swirling winds in different colors. _

_She knew these winds were her thoughts. If you looked really closely at the winds, you could see that they were playing a movie, a memory._

_Hazel watched the memories carefully, trying to find the ones she needed._

_A swirling wind played the memory when she had been helping Leo with his scrolls. She touched it and dragged the memory so it was in front of her. She did the same thing to all the other memories that was about Leo and the ones about Frank._

_Then she started to compare._

_"I can't choose between you two!" Hazel screamed desperately. The winds swirled in together and just created a blur of smiling, uncertain and blushing faces._

"Hazel! Hazel, wake up! What happened?!"

Slowly Hazel opened her eyes and tried to see who was standing over her. It was Frank.

"Are you okay? What happened? I thought you didn't have any more flashbacks!"

Hazel felt like her brain was a soggy, messy chaos of memories and thoughts. She tried to say:

"I'm fine."

Carefully Frank helped her sit up. He looked really worried.

"What happened?"

Hazel sighed. She couldn't tell Frank. It was all about him, and that was why he was the one who absolutely shouldn't know.

"Nothing. I fell asleep. Been a strange day."

"_Nothing_?! Hazel, you can tell me. Why are you having flashbacks again?"

"I'm NOT having flashbacks!" Hazel said angrily. "And you shouldn't care! Just because we are together in a relationship it doesn't mean I have to tell you everything!"

Hazel regretted the words as soon as they slipped out form her mouth. Frank blinked, looking shocked.

"I guess not, but isn't that what's most important in relationships? Trust?"

He left her feeling so guilty she almost cried.

_**I am so sorry that it is so short and boring! I'm quite busy, but I think next chapter (which probably comes tomorrow) will be better. Just hang on!**_

_**THANKS FOR ALL REVIEWS, YOU ARE JUST **__**AMAZING!**_


	10. Chapter 10

**_Hello again! CHAPTER 10! Thanks to all you readers, and your reviews are just to adorable! Here it comes!_**

**Chapter 10 – Flashbacks and dragons**

**_LEO_**

What are you supposed to do when a big, Asian guy with angry expression is walking towards you? Oh, wait, almost forgot; he can change shape to whatever he wants too!

Leo did the only thing he could.

"Hey. What's up, Frank?" He grinned nervously.

"Valdez, what have you done?!" Frank brummed. "What's wrong with Hazel? What did you do?"

Leo felt how his blood transformed to ice in his veins.

"Wait, what? What's wrong with Hazel?!" He asked.

"Stop pretending you don't know what I'm talking about! You did something to her!"

Leo tried to swallow his panic. His mind raced. What had happened to Hazel? Why did Frank think Leo had done something?

"Okay, can you just calm down and tell me what's wrong?" He asked Frank and put up his hands like he was surrendering. "First, what's wrong with Hazel?"

Frank glared at him, but slowly started to explain.

"I was going to check on Hazel, and when I walk in to her cabin, she is lying in her bed, screaming something about a choice and memories. Then she said your name."

Leo's heart raced a little faster.

"What do you mean? Was she asleep?"

"No." Frank frowned. "I think she had a flashback. I thought she hadn't had any since we shared one…"

"She shared one with me too, not so long ago." Leo reminded him.

"But that was on purpose. The flashbacks she had before came accidently. And she said your name. So what did you do?!"

Leo wanted to bolt for the door. Frank's glare was really unsettling, and this flashback-thing was really worrying. Why had Hazel said his name?

"I didn't do anything." He said. "I have been steering since lunch. Seriously."

Frank still looked angry, but he sighed.

"Okay then. Do you have any idea what it could have been about?"

Leo shrugged and frowned. He was kind of angry at Frank who came with another problem, it felt like Leo's head soon would explode. It was full of problems. When did it all get so complicated?

"Dude, I don't know more than you do. What do you expect me to do, build a machine that can read Hazel's thoughts?"

Frank's cheeks got a little red.

"You can do that?"

Leo rolled his eyes.

"I was sarcastic."

He turned back to the helm and pressed some buttons really fast. He could feel Frank looking at him.

"Uh… And, er, I would be really grateful if you could speak a little with Hazel. She's been a little distant, so I thought maybe she would listen to you… or something."

Leo's hands froze. Frank really wanted _him_ to speak with Hazel? What happened with all Valdez-is-flirting-with-my-girl-stuff?

"Sure." He said. "I'll go when this is done."

"Thanks."

Frank hurried away, and Leo felt how he got more and more nervous. Why did Frank suddenly trust him enough to let him speak with Hazel alone? Or did he think that Leo wasn't a treat anymore?

Anyway, Leo went to the corridor with all the cabins and knocked on Hazel's door. When she opened, he immediately saw that she had been crying. Still, she looked as cute as always.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked nervously.

Hazel sighed.

"Could everybody just stop asking me that?"

But she let him in.

Leo hadn't spent much time on building Frank's and Hazel's cabins. He knew two Roman demigods would be in the prophecy and would sail with him and the others, but he didn't know anything else. He had tried to do their cabins as nice as possible and fitting for a girl or a boy. Now, when he looked around, he regretted that he hadn't spent much time on Hazel's. He could have done it better, more cozy, lighter, anything for Hazel to like it more.

Hazel walked past him and sat down on the bed with her head in her hands.

"W-what's wrong?" Leo asked her. He stood uncomfortably in front of her and fiddled with some things from his toolbelt.

She didn't answer. Leo didn't know what to do, so he sat down on the bed next to her.

"Hey, you can tell me." He said and tried to sound upbeat and not desperate and nervous. "Just tell me what's wrong and we'll figure it out."

Hazel raised her head, and her golden eyes met his. Leo really believed his heart tried to jump out from his body.

She looked terrified, sad, angry and confused, but when she spoke, her voice was deadly calm.

"I can't tell you. Or Frank. Or anybody else."

Slowly Leo moved his hand toward her shoulder. He felt like when he was a kid, that time his mother showed him a new prototype she built and said that he had to be careful. He wanted to touch it, but he really didn't want to make his mother upset.

Leo waited for Hazel to shake his hand off or wince when he touched her, but she didn't. He felt pretty awkward, sitting with a hand on a girls shoulder, but he really didn't want Hazel to be sad.

To Leo's surprise she leaned toward him, resting her head on his shoulder. He felt electric.

Hazel wasn't covering her face now. She didn't cry, she had closed eyes and you could almost think she was asleep.

"Now, what happened?" Leo asked her.

She didn't respond. Leo didn't know if he wanted to run or just sit there forever.

"Frank thinks you had a flashback." He said. "Is it true?"

Hazel was still quiet, but she was biting her lip.

"Did you summon it on purpose?"

Of course, Hazel didn't answer. Leo started to feel kind of desperate.

"Hazel, listen to me."

He grabbed her arm and made her turn toward him. As soon as he did that he regretted it. How could he even concentrate with those beautiful golden eyes looking at him?

"Something is wrong. I know we don't really know each other and this whole Sammy-thing made it awkward between us, but you have to tell someone what's wrong. You didn't want to tell Frank but…" Leo gulped and wondered if he said too much, "You want to tell me?"

Hazel regarded him, but at last she said:

"If you just stop clenching my arm, I'll tell you. It kind of hurts…"

Leo felt how his cheeks were about to catch a fire and let go of her instantly.

"And, uh…" He said uneasily and tried to grin. "Don't sit too close to me, okay? There's always a risk that I catch fire."

Hazel laughed, and Leo thought he'd never heard something more beautiful.

"Sure, Repair Boy."

She moved from him a little.

"So, you can start whenever you want."

"Never?" Hazel asked.

"I'm pretty sure Festus can't be on autopilot that long." Leo grinned.

Hazel smiled again. Leo's heart flipped.

"Well, it started with-"

Then, suddenly, a loud _CRASH!_ interrupted them.

"DIE!" Coach Hedge's voice yelled.

"RUN!" Piper's voice said.

"DUCK!" Nico screamed.

Leo and Hazel threw themselves at the door and ran to deck. A huge, blue dragon was standing on deck, growling and roaring. Their friends were attacking and screaming.

"No, this is NOT happening." Leo muttered.

"What?" Hazel asked him.

The dragon breathed fire. Leo felt flames dance on his own hands.

"It's going to kill them and burn down the whole freaking ship!" Leo screamed to no one particular.

He ran toward the dragon, ignoring the flames that couldn't hurt him. Suddenly he thought of that night when he met Festus. It made him sad.

Piper was hurt. The dragon tail had hit her head and she was lying down, groaning, while Jason desperately tried to attack the dragon and shield Piper.

Coach Hedge and Nico were still on their feet, attacking over and over again.

"DIE!" The coach screamed and hit the dragon with his bat.

"MOVE!" Nico yelled when the dragon tried to eat Coach Hedge.

Leo looked desperately at his ship. Again, it was in flames. His friends could die at any moment. He had to do something.

Hazel was standing next to him, her eyes desperately scanning the scene. She was holding her _spatha_ and looked really dangerous and beautiful.

"Where's Frank?!" She yelled to Leo.

Leo hadn't noticed, but Frank was missing. He tried to think of where Frank could be, but it was kinda' hard when a huge fire-breathing dragon is trying to kill your friends. Luckily, the dragon hadn't noticed Leo and Hazel yet.

Then Leo spotted him.

Frank was flying over the dragon as a huge eagle (since Frank 'accidently' dropped Leo before in eagle form, he hated those things). Apparently he tried to confuse the dragon and give the others time to attack. It looked so terribly dangerous that Leo didn't want to show Hazel. Unfortunately, she followed his gaze and her face became as white as snow.

"No." She whispered. "He's going to kill himself! FRANK!"

Leo wanted to cover Hazel's mouth, but too late the dragon heard her and spotted them.

"Oh-oh." Hazel said. "I-I'm so-"

A big, deathly, dangerous dragon tail really can break up a conversation. Leo duck and yelled to Hazel to do the same. But Hazel didn't; faster than Leo ever seen someone do it before she cut off the dragons tail. The tail fell on the floor between them and exploded in yellow dust.

"Good job." Leo said. But Hazel didn't listen. She was staring in terror at the sky, and when Leo followed her gaze he gulped and said:

"We're screwed."

**_More later, mowhaha! XD See you!_**


	11. Chapter 11

**_Okay, I'm feeling angry and sad so this chapter is going not going to be happy._**

**_Enjoy!_**

**Chapter 11 – I can't loose you too**

**_HAZEL_**

Three more dragons were flying toward the ship. They swooped down and when their feet touched the deck, the whole ship swayed.

All the dragons roared.

"What are we going to do?!" She said desperately to Leo.

"Is it something we _can _do?" He asked her.

The dragons shot fire toward Piper, who yelped and tried to move, but she disappeared behind a wall of flames. Jason screamed.

Leo's face darkened.

"I've got an idea." He said to Hazel. "Be ready."

He told her his plan, and Hazel knew they would get killed.

"L-Leo, you seriously think-"

"And then, you-"

"Leo, it is dangerous!"

"You want to save them or not?!" Leo said angrily. He had the same kind of dark light in his eyes as when he fought the Chimaera. "Stick to the plan."

Then he ran off.

"HEY! STINK-EYE!" Leo yelled and waved his arms so the dragons would notice him.

Faster than what Hazel thought was possible, all four dragons turned their heads and glared at Leo. Still, he looked confident and angry.

"I AM GOING TO SCEWER YOU AND PARTY ON YOUR YUMMY FLESH!"

Hazel, Nico, Jason and Coach Hedge just stared at Leo. No one did anything. Even Frank in eagle-shape temporarily stopped flapping his wings.

Then Hazel remembered what she was meant to do, and with trembling hands she send an Iris Message to Frank. Leo had insisted, according to him the dragons would notice her if she just yelled to him.

"Frank Zhang, uh, the _Argo II_, flying over the ship."

She heard Leo's yelling, but it seemed distant. She focused on telling Frank the plan (it was a little strange, speaking with an eagle). He tried to nod, and Hazel dissolved the image.

"COME ON, STUPID-BRAIN! HERE I AM!" Leo screamed to one of the dragons. It breathed fire on him, but of course that didn't hurt Leo.

Then, suddenly, Frank dove. He gripped Hazel with his claws and flew to one of the dragons. Frank dropped her on it, and while she fell, Hazel raised her _spatha _and…

With a disgusting sound the _spatha _dug into flesh between the dragon's scales. Hazel didn't dare to look it was just too scary. Apparently the weapon had dug in real deep, because the dragon bellowed and exploded to dust. Hazel felt how she fell again.

Frank caught her. She heard the battle continue, Coach Hedge screaming and Leo yelling, but she didn't open her eyes.

They were supposed to do the same thing to all dragons, but a horrible wail made Frank turn.

Piper had, in some way, escaped the fire and started crawling to Jason, but she had stopped now. Hazel immediately saw why.

The dragons must have figured out that Leo couldn't be hurt by fire, so two of them had at the same time swung their gigantic "dragon-hands" at him. They'd hit him on opposite sides, and now he was unconsciously lying on the ground with bloody wounds from the dragons' claws.

Hazel screamed. A horrible wound was bleeding on Leo's chest. He couldn't be…?

"FRANK, DIVE!" She yelled, but Frank hesitated. At the same time, one of the dragons aimed for Leo with his sharp teeth.

Hazel screamed again so loudly that her throat started to hurt. Frank wouldn't let go of her, even if she struggled.

She sobbed.

"I can't lose you too! Not after Sammy!" She whispered.

But it looked like it already was too late.


	12. Chapter 12

**_Oh my gods I checked my mail and saw that I had, like, 6 reviews! XD You are so amazing, really, you're the best!_**

**_And I'll try to follow your advices CX _**

**_Well, enjoy, fellow Demigods!_**

**Chapter 12 – Accusing and losing **

**_HAZEL_**

Hazel was in shock.

After what happened to Leo, everything had happened really fast. Jason summoned lightning and blasted two of the dragons; Frank changed to human-shape and shot so many arrows that one of the dragons dissolved, and Coach Hedge's and Piper's combed screaming voices (Piper's were almost electric with charmspeak) scared the last dragon so much that it flew away.

Hazel ran to Leo just as the last dragon disappeared. His skin was white and his eyes glassy. Not to mention all the huge wounds all over his body. He was almost drenched in blood.

Hazel wouldn't have touched anyone who was that bloody, but this was _Leo. _She gripped his shoulders and shook him.

"Leo, wake up." She said, surprisingly calm. "Come on, Leo, you can do this. You're not dead. Wake up!"

She was so scared, so sad and so desperate that when she tried to feel if he was dead, she couldn't – good thing Nico was there.

"He's almost dead." He said grimly. "We need ambrosia and nectar. Fast."

Frank ran down to the sickbay.

Coach Hedge came over. For once, he was serious.

"I don't know if he can be healed. It is a pretty big damage." He said, which made Hazel feel even worse.

Hazel wanted to scream to the gods that this wasn't fair. First, they make her fall in love with a guy who is just like Sammy, and then they kill him off. And why did he die? Because Frank, her own _boyfriend_, hesitated when he was supposed to save Leo.

Piper was sitting by Hazel's side, but she looked calm. Jason stood behind her with a hand on her shoulder, looking shocked and angry.

Frank came running with ambrosia and nectar. Hazel snatched it out of his hands and slowly started to feed Leo. Everyone was quiet.

"We can't let him just lie here." Nico said at last. "We need to take him down to the sickbay."

The other agreed, but Hazel just sat there and stared at Leo's face. She couldn't believe it. How could the gods be so cruel?

Jason, Frank and the coach lifted Leo up. The spot where he had been lying was now a puddle of blood.

The ship was still on fire, at least parts of it. Hazel didn't care. She followed the boys and the satyr down to the sickbay, Nico and Piper behind her.

Even if they had fed Leo ambrosia and nectar, it looked like nothing had changed. He was cold, and his face got paler for every second.

"He's losing it." Nico mumbled behind her. Hazel wanted to yell at him to shut up.

They put him down on a bed. Coach Hedge started to do some nature healing on him, but it didn't seem to work. Piper muttered over and over again: "Wake up. Wake up." Jason and Frank tried to stop the bleeding. Hazel fed him with ambrosia and nectar.

After an hour, Leo's worst wounds were wrapped in bandage, and some of his color was coming back. The other left, but Hazel and Piper still sat there, feeding him.

Piper looked tired. She had been trying to wake Leo up with charmspeak (apparently she had done the same thing with Jason), but it didn't seem to work. Hazel was quiet and just kept feeding him the godly food.

"Is he going to wake up?" Piper asked her after a moment. "Do you know?"

Hazel tried to sense how dead he was, but it just didn't work.

"I-I'm too unfocused. It's hard to say."

Piper nodded, and they fell back into silence.

"Are you okay, Hazel? You've been a little distant." Piper said. She looked genuinely worried.

Hazel shrugged. She really started to hate that question.

"I-I have some issues. But I'm fine."

A knock on the door almost made Hazel jump. Frank came in, looking nervous.

"Can I talk to you, Hazel? In private?" He asked and glanced at Piper.

Piper rose from her seat.

"Of course. I have to go check on Jason anyway."

She gave Hazel a quizzical look and left.

The silence was awkward. Frank shifted on his feet.

"Hazel, I-I'm so sorry." He said at last.

"For what?" She asked him sternly.

"For not saving Leo." He said. "I didn't-"

"Why didn't you do it then?!" Hazel turned and looked Frank in the eyes. "Why couldn't you just dropped me and saved him?! Then this would never have happened!" She pointed angrily at Leo's unconscious body.

"I-I didn't mean t-to hesitate." Frank stammered. "I-"

"I don't care."

"Hazel, I di-"

"You almost _killed _him."

"Listen to me-"

"No." Hazel said. "Please just go."

Frank looked like he had been stabbed. He blinked a few times, but then left her.

_Did I just accuse Frank for something two dragons did? _Hazel asked herself. She seriously had done that?! Now she maybe had lost both Leo and Frank, just like Gaea said in her dream.

"I'm stupid, stupid, _stupid._" She muttered.

She looked at Leo's pale face, and every intense moment she ever had with him flashed by. On the boulder when they were looking for Celestial Bronze, the flashback, at the underwater camp, when they copied the Archimedes scrolls, when he asked her about the other enemy and they almost had kissed, the time he woke her up and she kissed him on the cheek, when she told him about Sammy and started to cry and when he spoke with her about her latest 'flashback' and got interrupted by the dragon-attack…

"Please wake up." Hazel whispered to Leo. "Please. I-We need you."

She held his hand tightly, but he didn't wake up.

"Maybe I can help." A new voice said behind her.

**_Hope you liked this chapter! Next one comes later! X)_**


	13. Chapter 13

**_Okay I just couldn't wait to write more, I know that is weird but I really like to write. Especially when the readers are as amazing as you are!_**

**Chapter 13 – It's always darkest before the dawn**

**_HAZEL_**

Hazel turned and her jaw dropped.

"L-Lord Apollo?!"

Apollo looked amused. He had the clothes of a Roman soldier, the helm in his arm. He was handsome, like one of those models on the commercials for men's wear. He had black, curly hair and sky-blue eyes.

"Well, hello there." He said. "I heard someone was hurt?"

Casually he walked by Hazel and pulled of Leo's bandages and examined the wounds.

"Ouch." Apollo said. "Dragons, huh? Their claws are poisoned. These dragons are of a really old kind, no doubt that Gaea woke them up… That's why the poor guy isn't getting better."

As Hazel watched, Apollo let his hands rest on the biggest wound. They started to glow unnaturally golden. The wound started to close. Leo's eyes closed. Hazel was so startled she couldn't say anything.

The god did the same thing to the other wounds. Soon Leo's body was healed, and he looked like he was sleeping.

"Done!" Apollo said cheerfully. "So, now he just needs a few hours to rest, He will wake up as soon as I'm gone. But first…"

Apollo snapped his fingers. A small golden whistle suddenly appeared in his hand. It glowed the same way as his hands had when he healed Leo.

"Here you are, Hazel Levesque. You can only use it once. Use it when the darkest times comes, but remember: it's always darkest before the dawn. As the sun god, I should now." He winked.

He handed her the whistle. Hazel stared it.

"A-Are you in your Roman or Greek form?"

"Ah, hard to say." Apollo frowned a little. "Like Nemesis, I have the same name as Roman and Greek. I'm one of the gods who don't change that much. I guess, right now, I'm Roman. It goes well with my outfit."

Hazel was still shocked over the god's sudden appearance, but she nodded.

"Of course. Er, what exactly did you mean with 'use it when the darkest times comes'?"

"You'll figure it out!" He said and smashed his hands. "Well, I have to go. Apparently Diana is angry with me. She's even whinier in her Roman form…"

And in a flash of golden light, Apollo was gone. It all happened so fast, that Hazel had to blink a few times to remember where she was. She put the whistle in her pocket.

A groan made Hazel jump.

Leo was slowly awakening. He looked tired, but healed. Hazel wanted to hug him and cry out in relief.

"You're awake!" She said breathlessly.

"Well, I gotta say that I don't remember falling asleep, but yeah. I'm awake." Leo said. "I feel like an elephant stepped on me, but I'm awake."

Hazel rushed to him and gave him some ambrosia and nectar. He immediately looked more alert.

"So… How long have I've been unconscious?" He asked Hazel and grinned. Hazel's heart jumped.

"A few hours. It looked pretty horrible. I thought-you almost-"

She didn't finish. Leo cleared his throat.

"So what happened? I don't remember more than yelling at dragons and then a horrible pain."

"They almost killed you." Hazel said. "You would have died if it wasn't for Apollo."

Leo frowned.

"You mean god of the sun-Apollo?"

"Yes. He healed you and-"

Hazel almost told him about the whistle, she could feel it in her pocket, but for some reason she stopped.

"And..?" Leo asked.

"Nothing. He healed you and… that was it."

Leo looked unsatisfied, but he didn't say anything. They were quiet for a moment.

"Where are the others?" He asked at last.

"I don't know… Maybe they are trying to kill the fire on de-"

Leo's expression turned to worry. Hazel cursed herself for saying anything.

"My ship is on fire _again_?!" He demanded. He almost looked scary.

"It's okay, I'll go and fix it."

"I'm coming with you." Leo said quickly.

"No, you have to rest, Leo." Hazel said and frowned. "I'm back in a moment."

Hazel left Leo and walked up on deck, and almost cried out in surprise.

The fire was gone. There were no signs of fight. Everything was shiny and clean.

Suddenly Leo appeared behind her.

"I had to see if my ship is okay." He said to her when she gave him a _what-are-you-doing-here?_-look. "What the heck?! Who cleaned up?"

"I-I don't know." Hazel said and frowned.

"Well, it looks good." Leo said and grinned. "Look, even Festus is shiny. How are you, Festus?"

Festus creaked.

Leo stumbled.

"You have to rest, Leo!" Hazel said. "Come on. Back to the sickbay."

"Who is going to steer?"

"You know, we know how to keep the ship from sinking."

"I think I forgot the sonar."

"You did _not._"

Leo sighed.

"Well, then. How long do I have to stay down there?"

"According to Apollo, a few hours."

"Great. How am I going to _not _think of my dream now?!" Leo muttered silently, but Hazel heard him

"What?" She said.

"Nothing. Just keep going."

They were quiet for a long time. When they were back in the sickbay, Leo lie down on the bed and fiddled with some machine pieces.

"Are you feeling better?" Hazel asked him.

"Yeah, sure." He said distantly. "Thanks for taking care of me, by the way."

Hazel's heart leaped when he met her eyes and grinned.

"It was nothing." She said and smiled back. "You want me to stay here?"

A part of her wanted him to say no so she could bolt, but the other part wanted him to say yes.

"Um, if you want to." Leo said nervously. "But you don't have to."

Hazel smiled.

"I'll stay. So, what was that dream you muttered about?"

She wanted him to tell her. Why? She didn't know. Maybe because she wanted to know if he trusted her enough.

Leo's cheeks got a little red.

"You heard that?"

"Well, yes. Otherwise I wouldn't ask." She said.

"Well… Yeah…"

They got interrupted by Jason.

"You're awake!" He said happily to Leo, who grinned back. "Man, I thought you were dead. Are you able to walk? Everyone has been worrying out of their minds. I would love to see their faces."

Leo shot Hazel a look, but said:

"Sure. I wanna see Coach Hedge's expression. Hazel, you coming?"

Hazel tried for a smile.

"Of course."

**_I know, kinda' boring, but it was a necessary chapter. Leo had to wake up and Hazel had to get that whistle X3 And I know Apollo don't look like that in the PJO-books, but this is his Roman form and he can change appearance if he wants to, he's a god X) _**

**_Review!_**


	14. Chapter 14

**_I'm sorry for not updating lately, but I've been kinda busy… So I just want you to know that I'm not going to update very often, maybe until after Christmas… But of course, the chapters will drop in sooner and later x)_**

**_Thanks for all amazing reviews!_**

**Chapter 14 – Well, I'm in love**

**_LEO_**

Leo wished he hadn't followed Jason to the mess hall. Just when he walked in and prepared for saying a joke, a blur of dark hair shot right at him and covered his sight.

"I thought you were _dead_, if you ever try to distract a dragon again I'm gonna kill you!"

Piper almost suffocated him, but Leo laughed.

"Well, I think that dragon would try to kill me first, but you can always get in line." Leo said and awkwardly patted her on her back.

Piper pulled away with tears in her eyes.

"You have no idea how worried we've been, Valdez! How could you be so stupid to try to distract so many dragons?!"

Then Coach Hedge's voice yelled:

"VALDEZ!"

He trotted over with the baseball bat raised, and Leo thought that he looked far too scary to be half goat.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, VALDEZ?! HOW COULD YOU-"

But Death Kid interrupted:

"Coach Hedge, don't you think Leo should rest before you start to yell at him?"

"Yes, definitely. Or he will just pass out while you're yelling, and then it won't have any effect, right?" Jason said quickly.

"I suppose you're right." The coach glared at Leo. "Valdez, we're not done."

He left the room, and Leo raised an eyebrow and said:

"He was _not_ in a good mood."

"How are you?" Piper asked. "How did you get out of bed so quickly?"

Hazel told them about Apollo's visit while Jason and Dead Kid helped Leo to sit down in a chair. Hazel voice was kind of hollow, and she looked like she felt awkward.

Frank was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, guys, where's Mr. Shape Shifter?" Leo asked. He shot Hazel a curious look but she looked away.

"He disappeared into his cabin after visiting Hazel and you a while ago…" Piper said and frowned. "Did something happen?"

Everyone looked at Leo and Hazel, but Leo put up his hands like he was surrendering.

"I was unconscious!"

Hazel didn't say anything.

"So… You want something to eat?" Piper asked Leo after an awkwardly silent moment.

"No, I'm fine." He said and grinned a little. "I'm going back to the helm. You guys saw how clean it's up there?"

Nico (a.k.a. Death Kid) looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

Leo looked sighed in exasperation.

"You seriously didn't check that everything on deck was okay while I was unconscious? My friends, you should have known that I'm _never _waking up from death again if you don't visit Festus and check if he is okay!"

Jason laughed a little.

"Okay then, Admiral. Let's go."

Leo led them up to deck and showed them how clean, shiny and perfect everything looked. Piper mostly appreciated it (it didn't matter how much Piper denied it, she was a daughter of the love goddess and she liked gossip and sweet stuff), but the others we're as confused as Leo.

"Wow… That's weird." Jason said. "If I left my dirty clothes up here, would they be clean now too?"

Piper rolled her eyes.

"I don't understand." Dead Kid said and frowned. "This shouldn't be possible. It has to be some god who did this. Maybe Apollo?"

"I don't think so…" Hazel said uncertainly. "He didn't mention anything about cleaning up."

Leo's brain didn't have the energy to think about something that serious right now. Instead, he just said:

"Come on, whoever it was, it was nice. Everything looks sweet. So let's just get back to work."

Piper stomped her foot.

"I can't stand this anymore! We're not doing _anything _that can help Percy and Annabeth or close the Doors! We're all just 'hanging out' and 'chilling' while the ship peacefully is going towards Greece! Does anyone realize that Percy and Annabeth maybe are dead right now?! Or that Gaea's armies are just storming out from the Doors without anyone stopping them?! Soon they will be unstoppable!"

Everything went quiet. Leo thought about his dream. _Gaea is not the only one you will have to worry about…_

"No." He said. "First of all, Percy and Annabeth aren't dead." He looked at Death Kid, who nodded. "And this isn't a peaceful trip to Greece, do anyone remember that we were attacked by dragons a few hours ago? The _Argo II_ is going as fast as she can, and I'm sorry that there isn't anything to do other than just hang out right now. But we can't do anything about it right now, and it's good that we don't have big problems that everyone has to work on. Besides…"

Leo took a deep breath.

"Gaea isn't our only enemy. We have to be prepared to fight very powerful monsters and stuff, so it would be good if you tried to practice fighting. And we have to figure out who this other enemy could be."

No one said anything. Leo didn't really care. He yawned and turned to the helm.

One after another, the other left. Leo thought he was all alone, but then a voice said:

"Could you please tell me about this dream of yours?"

He didn't turn, but his heart raced a little faster.

"Leo, please, I know something is wrong."

Leo closed his eyes, but didn't answer. He felt Hazel looking at him.

After a moment, Leo finally turned and met Hazel's eyes. They were golden, beautiful.

"Nothing is wrong, everything's fine." Leo said sternly.

Hazel walked to Leo and put a hand on his arm. A wave of nervousness washed over him.

"Please."

It was unfair. Those golden eyes made him want to tell her everything, that look was even stronger than Piper's charmspeak.

"I-I had this dream." Leo started.

_Gosh, she is beautiful_, Leo thought.

_And Frank's girlfriend!_ A voice in his head said.

Hazel still had her hand on his arm.

Then suddenly she backed away in alarm, looking terrified. Leo ran to her.

"What's wrong?!" He asked.

"Y-You're on f-fire!" She stammered.

Leo cursed. He looked down at his hands and saw that they were ablaze. Very quickly he smothered them.

"I'm sorry." He said and tried for a grin. Hazel smiled a little, but she still looked at his hands.

"I thought you could control that."

Leo felt his heart sink.

"Well, I usually can, it's just-"

_It's just that you are here_, he wanted to say. But he stopped himself.

"You should, uh, keep your distance." Leo said. He felt very awkward. Why did everything always go wrong when he was around Hazel?!

"No, it's okay." She laughed. "It's not your fault. Were you born with that ability or…?"

"Yeah, I was." Leo said, not too happy with the topic. "I accidently set stuff on fire when I was, like, two years old, so I'm pretty sure I was born with it."

Hazel nodded slowly.

"Accidently setting fire on things doesn't sound too good." She said.

Leo shrugged.

"Nah, I'm okay with it. Since I came to Camp Half-Blood, I've gotten better at controlling it. But I'm not too happy about it. The fire-powers, I mean."

He thought about his mother, killed by a fire he started because Gaea wanted to break his spirit. It didn't matter if you said that the fire wasn't his fault, that he just wanted to stop Gaea, but his mom's death still was his fault: if it wasn't for Leo, Gaea never would have come to the machine shop at all. Then his mom would be alive.

Apparently Hazel noticed something was wrong, she asked:

"Does something bad ever happened because of it?"

Leo didn't know what to tell her. Why should he tell her, a girl he only known for a short time, about his mother's death when he never told anyone else?

But he did.

"It kinda'-It kinda' killed my mom." Leo bit his lip, trying not to cry. Why did he do this to himself?! Nothing would get better if he told Hazel; she would give him the same kind of sympathy he got his whole life. Leo wouldn't get happier by telling her or thinking about it at all.

Hazel didn't say "I'm sorry" or "That's terrible!". She was quiet.

That encouraged Leo to tell her even more.

"Gaea came. I was eight years old. Mom and I were in her machine shop, and we were just on our way out when she realized she had left the keys in the shop. She told me that she would be back in a moment and went in again… The door slammed shut and Gaea appeared. I remember her telling me that the Fates didn't allow her to kill me, but they didn't protect my mom. I was scared, and-" Leo stopped and blinked. He smiled painfully to Hazel. "-And I knew that Gaea would just pass through the wall and kill mom. So my hands caught fire…"

Leo didn't continue. Hazel's eyes were full of sadness and sympathy, _genuine_ sympathy, but she still didn't say anything. He was happy for that.

He had a hard time trying not to cry. It felt really weird to tell anyone so much about his mom's death, he felt like someone turned him inside-out, took all the things that made him work and then turned him back to normal. He felt like an empty scale.

He smiled sarcastically and looked away.

"I don't know why I told you that… I'm usually not that whiny-"

But Hazel didn't speak. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Leo and hugged him tightly, hugged him like no one ever had after his mom's death – and Leo loved it. For once, someone showed some genuine sympathy, someone really cared about how sad he was. They just stood there, hugging.

Leo tried very hard to not catch fire, but he suspected he was warm. The strange thing was, he never been comforted or hugged like this. The hugs he got since his mother's death had all been to comfort others. This really was nice. It felt so good…

But a part of Leo cursed. This was, like, the thousand time he had Hazel in his arms, and still he hadn't kissed her. And she was Frank's girlfriend.

_Frank's girlfriend._

Leo pulled away.

"Thanks, I guess." He said awkwardly.

He gave her a little smile, trying not to show how nervous he really was, and turned to the helm.

"Will you be okay?" Hazel asked him after a silent moment.

"I-Yeah. Of course." Leo said. He kept his eyes on the horizon.

"Then I'll go."

He heard the sound Hazel's footsteps faint. Leo seriously wanted to slap himself. What was he doing?!

Truthfully, he hadn't a clue. How did you deal with girls? How did you speak with them? Of course Leo had been in love before, but not like this. This was a girl who could have been his great-grandmother and liked him because he was like his great-grandfather. This was a girl who already had a boyfriend.

Leo felt weirdly peaceful. Telling Hazel about that night in the machine shop had been easier than he thought it would be, and it felt good.

Festus creaked.

"What's going on? Well, I'm in love. That's going on."

But the thought of being in love with Hazel made him sad. He promised Frank to not move it in on his girl. Now he was going to lose a sort-of-friend who probably would trample him in bear shape and maybe even the girl he liked.

**_I know, not very good ending (or anything...), but I hope it will satisfie you until the next chapter! :)_**


	15. Chapter 15

**_Hi! Thanks for beautiful reviews! Here comes a new chapter, not very good but still! ;)_**

**_Now there is gonna be a little twist. I want to write about Christmas so bad so this is a really weird way to do it, but yeah… Just read and review XD _**

**Chapter 15 – Happiness and joy **

**_HAZEL_**

"Hazel?" Frank's uncertain voice came from behind the cabin door. Hazel sat and tried to read an incredibly boring book.

"It's open."

Frank came in. He looked cute as always.

"Hi." He said simply. "I hope it is okay that I just came by-"

Hazel almost imploded with guilt. She felt so stupid for blaming him for Leo's dragon accident.

"Of course." She said.

Frank sat down on the bed next to her.

"What's that?" He said and looked at the book.

"Just a boring book." Hazel said and shrugged.

They sat in silence for a moment, until Hazel couldn't stand it anymore.

"Frank, I'm so sorry for blaming you. It wasn't your fault, I feel terrible-"

"Hazel, it's okay." Frank interrupted. "_I'm _sorry. If I hadn't hesitated Leo would never gotten hurt."

He looked so sad, like a cute puppy pleading with big eyes for food. Hazel leaned forward and kissed him.

"Let's say we both did wrong." She said.

Frank smiled.

"And it all worked out, right? Apollo healed Leo."

"Exactly." Hazel took his hand and smiled.

Suddenly Nico appeared in the doorway. He looked shocked.

"What's wrong?!" Hazel immediately asked. She and Frank rose.

"I-She just _appeared_." Nico stammered. "Just come."

Frank and Hazel looked at each other, but followed Nico to the mess hall. It was warm and cozy in there and smelled good. Piper, Jason, Coach Hedge and Leo were already there. Hazel saw right away what they were staring at. A woman in golden robes with blonde hair was sitting on a chair at the dinner table.

"Who-" Frank started but stopped when the woman raised her head.

The woman had golden eyes and a beautiful face, but the most astonishing was her smile. It was big, nice, and really happy. She looked like she was the happiness herself.

"My name is Euphrosyne. I'm one of the Graces." The woman said and smiled even bigger. Her voice was cheerful, like a happy melody.

Hazel suddenly felt really happy. She felt like dancing, hugging everyone in the room and just laugh. Somewhere back in her head she realized that this woman was a goddess and she probably made Hazel feel this way, but right now she didn't care.

"I've read about you." Piper said slowly. She was smiling too. "Aren't you the goddess of happiness or something?"

"Yes, actually I am. The goddess of happiness, cheer and joy." Euphrosyne said, still smiling. How could she speak and still have that great smile?

"Isn't Grace your last name, Jason?" Leo asked. He was grinning but looking slightly confused. "Are you related?"

Euphrosune laughed. The sound of it made Hazel think of all the good memories she shared with everyone she loved. It felt good.

"No, my dear, I'm afraid Jason and I never met before. But I heard that you recently lost two demigods. I'm so sorry." She said, but her smile didn't waver.

Frank blinked a few times.

"Yes, Percy and Annabeth. They fell down to Tartarus."

"Oh, that sounds terrible! But no need to dwell on that. You can't do anything but wait until you reach Greece, so let's transform this sadness to joy! You will need to be optimistic to defeat Gaea. I can help."

Hazel frowned. Her mind was foggy, and she was warm inside, but she needed to ask this goddess some questions.

"Are you Greek or Roman?" She asked.

The goddess flinched, and for a moment someone else was sitting in that chair; a woman in purple robes with black hair. Hazel immediately knew that she was a Charis.

"Please stop thinking of me in my Roman form! It is hard enough to stay as a Grace when all of you are here." Euphrosyne sounded annoyed, but one second later she was her old smiling self again.

"Sorry, ma'am." Nico said quickly.

"Okay… Well, I apologize. But why are you here?" Hazel asked the goddess. She didn't know if she could trust this Charis/Grace.

"To spread some happiness, of course!" Euphrosyne laughed.

"How?" Jason asked hopefully.

"Well, do you demigods know which is my favorite holiday?" She asked. "I'll give you a clue: it's the coldest but still happiest holiday of all."

"_Christmas_?!" Leo asked. He didn't look as dazed anymore. "Isn't it, like, five months to Christmas?"

"Actually, yes. But I'll give you a gift, like the other gods who visited you. I'll give you Christmas!"

Piper clapped her hands. Coach Hedge danced a little. Nico and Jason laughed happily. They didn't seem to realize how strange this was.

Hazel and Leo shared worried looks.

"Er, exactly what do you mean?" Leo asked and raised an eyebrow.

But Euphrosyne didn't answer. The world started to fade in Hazel's eyes.

"You'll see. You won't need to focus on saving the world, I'll give you a little Christmas break! Merry Christmas!" Her distant happy voice called.

"What do you mean?!" Hazel screamed, but she couldn't see the goddess. In fact, she couldn't see anything at all.

Then suddenly, she was standing in the mess hall again, but it looked completely different.

"What just-_Whoa._" Leo said. "What the heck?!"

The whole mess hall was decorated with jingle bells, garlands, and other Christmas decorations. The table was dingling with delicious Christmas food, and in the corner of the hall a big Christmas tree was spreading a smell of forest.

"Wow." Piper said. "It's Christmas!"

"This is so weird." Jason said. "This is _wrong_. It's the middle of July!"

"Well, Euphrosyne said that she was gonna give us Christmas, and here we are." Coach Hedge said and grinned.

"She said she would give us a break. Leo, is the ship sailing or what?"

They all ran to deck, and Hazel inhaled sharply.

The ship was aloft, and under them a big city covered in the snow glittered in the moonlight. It should have been day, but the sky was dark and star-spangled, and the moon looked really big.

"Oh my gods. Where are we?!" Piper asked.

Leo ran to the helm and pressed some buttons, looking worried and astonished at the same time.

"We're not sailing. Festus can't even locate us. It's like we are flying over the City of Nowhere."

"The goddess said she would give us a break. She literally stopped time and put us in the middle of nothing!" Nico said and balled his fists.

"Well, then there is just one thing to do." Leo turned back to the others, grinning.

"What?! There is nothing we can do. We have to wait until that Grace take us back to reality." Hazel said bitterly.

Leo rolled his eyes and spread his hands.

"To celebrate, of course. Let's do a special Demigod Christmas ála a goddess whose name I can't pronounce!"


	16. Chapter 16

**_My special Christmas chapter comes here! I hope you'll like it! _**

**_Meanwhile I wrote it, I listened to the song Extraordinary Merry Christmas (Glee Version, but the orginal is good too). Just so you know, if you want to listen too when you're reading :)_**

**Chapter 16 – Christmas!**

**_HAZEL_**

Hazel had never in her wildest dreams thought she ever would celebrate Christmas with a couple of demigods in July. And it was amazing.

Euphrosyne was right, it was a very happy holiday. Everybody laughed, joked and had really fun. Leo told them corny jokes, the food was delicious, and everyone laughed all the time.

"Okay, singing time!" Leo said and grinned big. He had a Santa hat stuck over the curly black hair, and he looked mischievous as always, but Hazel's heart ached when she looked at him. He reminded her of Sammy so much, he always joked around when it was Christmas times. "Beauty Queen, you're up first."

"Nononono." Piper protested. "Never."

"C'mon, Pipes, you have the best voice!"

"Charmspeak and singing is two very different things!" Piper said and crossed her arms. "I'm not going to sing."

Jason laughed.

"We'll do it together, then."

Piper raised an eyebrow.

"You can sing?"

"Nope. Come on!"

From nowhere, music started to play. Piper and Jason tried to sing, but choked and laughed so much that everybody started to throw food at them.

"Okay, who's next? No Christmas without singing, ya' know!" Leo said when Piper and Jason finally sat down again, both covered in eggnog and other kind of food.

"I can do it!" Coach Hedge said. "I know what to sing, I have made this new version of Jingle Bells named Jingle Bats-"

"That sounds amazing, coach, but no thank you." Nico interrupted. Hazel had never seen him so happy. Nico had always been very dark and moody, but now he smiled and laughed like he was a new person. It made Hazel's heart warm.

"We can do it, Hazel and I." Frank volunteered, which made everyone at the table burst out laughing.

"We can't sing, Frank!" She tried to say.

"Have you ever heard me sing?" Frank asked.

"Please don't sing." Jason said.

"If no one is going to sing, let's dance." Leo said and smashed his hands together. "Fun Christmas music, please."

Immediately, a catchy song started to play. Red spotlights flashed. Coach Hedge rose and started to dance, but it looked so horrifying that Hazel couldn't watch. Jason took Piper's hand and started to spinning around on the floor, both laughing.

"I can't dance." Nico moaned. "I'm gonna throw up if I move."

Hazel laughed.

"I don't know how to dance." Frank mumbled. "I'm going to sit here and eat some cake instead."

"Come on, Frank! Please?" Hazel asked him, but he shook his head.

"I'm too clumsy. I don't want to hurt any of you."

Hazel tried to make him dance with her, but he really didn't want to. He seemed kind of happy with eating cake.

"Well, Mr. Scary Animal Man, if you're not gonna dance with this beautiful lady, I'm going to take her to the dance floor myself. May I have this dance, Ms. Metal Detector?"

Leo was standing next to Hazel's chair, offering her a hand and grinning. Hazel's heart leaped.

Frank looked baffled.

"She don't need to-"

"Actually, yes." Hazel interrupted. She hoped no one of them saw how red her cheeks were.

She took Leo's hand and followed him out on the floor. Suddenly, the music switched to a slow, tranquil song. Jason and Piper started to hug and slowly move around on the floor. Hazel looked at Leo, who looked nervous. His eyes were glittering, and his mouth were smiling a little, that cute way Sammy did when he was nervous and tried to hide it.

He awkwardly held out his arms, and Hazel carefully rested her head to his chest. Everything around them fainted, and the only thing that mattered was how Leo was rocking her and the soft music. Hazel didn't even remember that Frank was there.

Leo was really warm. He smelled machine oil and maybe a little smoke, but Hazel started to like that smell. He stepped on her feet a few times, but it just made her smile into his shirt.

Suddenly the music changed to a much faster song. Leo let go of Hazel and backed away a little.

"Um, thanks for the dance." He said awkwardly and walked to the table and sat down. Frank looked at him with fierce eyes.

Hazel slowly stepped back to her chair and sat down. Her cheeks were still red. Frank pulled an arm around her and looked defensively at Leo, who was very interested in his food.

Coach Hedge sat down too and grinned.

"My dance moves is awesome, right?"

He gave all of the demigods a look like: _If not, I'm gonna kill you with my baseball bat._

Nico hurried to say:

"Of course. They were… awesome."

Hazel was regarding Leo, who still didn't look up. His shoulders were tense.

"Are you okay?" Frank asked her.

"Uh, yeah. Of course." She tried to smile to him, but it pretty much failed.

"Oh gods!" Piper suddenly cried. "Look under the Christmas tree!"

A lot of Christmas gifts suddenly had appeared under the big tree.

Like small children, everybody ran to it and started to look for their gift. It was names on every box, and Hazel found her pretty fast. It was a green, tiny box with gold stripes.

Slowly she started to unwrap it. She opened the small box carefully and inside…

Hazel's fingers froze. Inside was a golden chain to hang around your neck. A little card was there too, with a message written on it:

_You will lose the whistle if you keep it in your pocket all the time. This maybe will help._

She completely had forgotten about that whistle. Now, she could feel it growing warm and heavy in her pocket.

"What did you get?" Frank asked her. He had a new wristwatch wrapped around his wrist.

Hazel closed the box and tried to smile.

"Oh… Just a necklace. Nothing special."

Frank frowned.

"What kind of necklace?"

Hazel desperately tried to find something to say, but to her relief Coach Hedge yelled:

"That's right! Look what I got!"

He was wearing a red sweater with the words _SANTA'S SATYR_ written over his chest in green. It looked absolutely terrible on him, but he grinned proudly.

"That Euphrosyne is a really good Christmas sponsor, huh?"

"What is _this_?!" Jason suddenly said.

He was staring in terror at a pair of small, white, fluffy toy-wings (those small children has when they are playing that they are fairies). Everyone burst out laughing.

"They fit you, Jason!" Piper said. "Try them on!"

Jason rolled his eyes and closed his box, looking angry.

"Oh, I like this." Nico said and showed everyone his new belt with skulls.

Piper got a pink hairbrush (which she hated), so she traded it with Jason's wings (it didn't make Jason very happy, though).

Leo was quiet. He kept staring into his box with sad eyes. Hazel wanted to ask him what was wrong, but she thought that he maybe didn't want attention.

"I'm just going to use the bathroom." She said and rose. She held the tiny green box in her hands as she stepped out of the mess hall.

As soon as the other couldn't see her anymore, Hazel opened her gift again and took out the whistle from her pocket. It was glowing warmly. Now she noticed that it had a little hole so you could hang it on the chain. She hung it on her neck, and put it under her shirt.

Suddenly Leo came out from the mess hall too, holding his box so hard that his knuckles were white. He collided with Hazel.

"Oh-I'm sorry." He said distantly.

"It's fine. Are you okay? You look kind of-"

"Look." Leo interrupted. He looked dazed, shocked and sad. "Just look."

He handed her the box, and what Hazel saw inside made her want to cry.

**_Christmashanger! ;)_**


	17. Chapter 17

**_OH MY GODS! THANKS FOR ALL THE AMAZING REVIEWS! You are so cute, so awesome, so…afsfgdgjasgsjfjagau! (-best compliment ever, huh? ;-))_**

**_I listened to Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Glee-version, but the original is good too) when I wrote the last part. I think you will find it nice to listen to it while you are reading! :-)_**

**_And I know that Leo is kinda' out of character, but I hope that's okay!_**

**_But now, enjoy your chapter! :-D_**

**Chapter 17 – Pictures and fireworks**

**_LEO_**

Leo felt like his world just had been turned upside-down.

When he opened the box in the mess hall, he had felt like Khione just had frozen him. His blood may have literally turned to ice, and he wouldn't notice.

He had just been staring at the thing inside until he decided to leave the room. No one could see this. Not right now.

Then he had found Hazel there, and without really knowing what he was doing he handed her the box.

She had been staring at it with her eyes filled with same terror and anger like he had felt when he first saw it.

Slowly she closed the box.

"It's not true." Hazel said, her voice trembling. "Some god or goddess is joking. They-It _can't _be true."

But she sounded unsure and scared. She turned to Leo and met his eyes.

"It's not true, Leo. Don't believe it. Promise me, okay? Throw it or destroy it or-or something."

Leo's hands were trembling. He tried to believe Hazel, that it was just some stupid joke, but this was just too horrible.

The sound of running steps made them both wince and turn. Nico was standing in front of them, looking almost as scared as Leo felt.

"Percy-Annabeth-I can't feel them…"

Hazel looked ready to faint. She blinked a few times and leaned on the wall.

"W-What do you mean?"

Nico gave her a look, but didn't respond. Leo knew what he meant.

"It's maybe too late already, we have to do something-"

His eyes fell on the box in Hazel's hand.

"What's that?"

Hazel handed him the box, almost threw it to him. Nico opened it, and froze. Slowly he plucked out the item in it.

It was a picture, a picture of Percy and Annabeth standing with their arms wrapped around each other. They wore camp-shirts, and looked maybe a year younger than the Percy and Annabeth Leo knew. They both smiled and looked incredibly happy.

Someone had circled their faces with a red marker. Under the ring with their faces in was something written in the same red color.

_DEAD, BECAUSE OF YOU._

Leo had never in his entire unlucky, stupid life been feeling so terrible.

The others were staring at him so forcefully that he felt like he was crumbling. The only thing he could think of was how much worse it would have been if Annabeth's grey steel eyes been on him too, which naturally just made him feel worse.

"W-What does it mean?" Piper finally said. Her voice was trembling and almost electric with charmspeak. "How can they be d-dead?! And how can it be your fault, Leo?"

Leo didn't meet any of the other's eyes. He resisted the urge to tell Piper about Nemesis' stupid fortune cookie, how it saved Frank and Hazel but now killed Percy and Annabeth. Everything was his fault; if he just hadn't took the cookie…

"It's not true, is it?" Coach Hedge looked at Leo with serious eyes. "It can't be your fault, Valdez, right?"

Leo felt the lump in his throat grow.

Frank asked uncertainly:

"It's maybe just a joke or something…"

"Exactly." Jason stood. "It's not even possible. And if it is, Leo would never do anything to kill Percy and Annabeth."

He looked at Leo with sparkling eyes, and Leo just knew that he couldn't take it anymore.

He rose and left the table.

"Leo! Leo, stop!"

* * *

Leo was sitting on deck, looking out over the City of Nowhere. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he didn't even try to stop them.

It was his fault, right? He could have thrown the cookie away, or just not opened it and tried to use his brain in that room with the spheres.

Festus creaked quizzically, but Leo ignored him.

His whole stupid life had been one misery after another, and everything had been his fault. His mother's death (if it wasn't for him and his fire, she would maybe been alive right now), Festus' crash (why couldn't he just asked Nyssa and the others to help him build a new disk?!), the attack on Camp Jupiter (did he _have _to show Octavian the ship?!), Shrimpzilla (how could he forget the sonar?!), and now this.

Leo had tried to kill the sadness, or at least hide it, but now it had reached the tipping point. It wasn't like him to cry and complain about his misery. What was he doing on the _Argo II_? The only thing the others ever needed him for was to build it, and now when that was done he was just unnecessary. And the world was supposedly going to fall in fire or storm, so Leo would maybe destroy the world in the future. He wasn't needed.

"Leo!" Hazel came running. She looked desperate and sad, like a concerned animal. "Please just listen to me."

Leo didn't respond. He didn't even try to hide the fact that he had been crying.

"Why should I?"

"Because you're _stupid._"

This was _not _what he expected from Hazel. He turned and met Hazel's eyes, startled.

"Excuse me?"

"You're _stupid_, Leo."

Hazel looked angry and sad at the same time. She walked to Leo and sat down next to him.

"You're so stupid for thinking that this is your fault. You're stupid for thinking that you're nothing. You're stupid for hiding your emotions inside of you, when they almost kill you. You're so stupid for thinking that no one cares about you, and you're really stupid because you don't believe that anyone could help you if you tell them about your problems."

Leo couldn't believe that Hazel said these things to him. He even laughed a little.

"You are stupid for thinking that machines are the only things that can understand you and accept you. And you're stupid for not trusting me."

Hazel's golden eyes saw right through him. She looked stern, but still understanding. It dawned on Leo how beautiful she was.

"Am I the only one who is this stupid?" Leo joked and tried to grin. "I think you are pretty stupid too, for thinking that saying I'm stupid will make me feel better."

Hazel didn't change expression.

"And Leo, you have to realize that you're not alone. You can't keep all this sadness inside of you. Someday it will be too much and it will kill you."

She gripped his hand.

Leo blushed. He realized how close they were.

"Leo, I-I care about you. Everyone on this ship does. You're one of us, and Nemesis words about you being the seventh wheel is not true. You will never be alone."

Leo tried very hard to believe her, but he just couldn't.

"It is true." He croaked. He felt his eyes burn, and more tears escaped them. "Everything is my fault. And there's nothing I can do about it. I'm just going to ruin this quest. What do you guys need me for?"

Hazel suddenly smiled. It made Leo's body grew really warm. She looked so confident, kind, and just beautiful when she smiled.

"The Leo I know wouldn't say anything like that."

"Tell me about him." Leo muttered.

She laughed.

"He's strong. Always happy and jokes around. He is the one that everyone can rely on, because he is like a rock. He never bends down for the will of the gods. He is just… lovely."

Leo's cheeks almost caught fire. Hazel calling him lovely? FIRE WARNING EVERYBODY!

They still held hands and stared into each other's eyes. Leo felt an electric shiver go down his spine.

Suddenly romantic, soft music started to play from nowhere. Hazel and Leo turned to see fireworks in different shapes shot in to the sky from the Christmas city.

Hazel laughed.

"Wow! It's so beautiful!"

It surely was. It was just like in those cheesy romantic comedies Leo's mom liked to watch, when a couple was sitting together and watching the night sky and realizing that they loved each other.

Leo realized he hadn't let go of Hazel's hand. It started to get just _too_ romantic.

He glanced at Hazel, who still looked at the fireworks with a big smile and shining eyes.

_Well, let's play a romantic comedy then, _Leo thought.

They laughed and pointed at the fireworks in all the different shapes, enjoying each other's company.

Hazel rested her head on Leo's shoulder. He felt like he was going to catch fire, but tried to keep his body temperature down.

"You know," Hazel suddenly said, "this is pretty amazing. It's nice to have a break from… everything."

Leo felt her cinnamon hair tickle his cheeks. Her hand was warm in his.

"Yeah, it is." He silently prayed to his step-mother, Aphrodite, that this moment would never end. At least not yet. "It's nice to be here with you."

It had just slipped out from him, but Hazel raised her head and smiled warmly to him.

"It's nice to be with you, too, Valdez. Do you believe me now? That you aren't hated?"

Leo blinked. He had almost forgotten why they had come there in the first place.

"Well, maybe not by you. But the other surely hates me now, when Percy and Annabeth are… are…"

He couldn't even say it. A wave of guilt washed over him.

"They're not dead, you know." Hazel said thoughtfully. "It was really close, but they are alive. I can feel it."

Leo immediately felt much happier. His shoulders relaxed.

"Thank the gods." He sighed. "But I'm still a worthless piece of equipment." Leo laughed a little sad laugh.

"Leo."

Hazel sat up, took his hand and placed it on his chest.

"Promise me to never think that way."

Leo laughed and blushed a little.

"Promise me that if something is bothering you, you will come and speak to me about it. I will listen, and I will help you. I know we don't know each other really well, but-"

She bit her lip, and Leo thought she looked really cute.

"-but I really care about you. So promise me."

Leo grinned. He felt like his heart was a floating balloon.

"I promise. I promise to stop being stupid. But just in your company."

Hazel laughed. She looked beautiful in the moon light, and the fireworks shot lights in different colors over her chocolate skin like spotlights.

Was it just Leo or was she a little bit closer now than a second ago?

Slowly, their faces moved closer. A force pulled Leo forward, his lips closer to Hazel's.

There wasn't any voice inside his head that demanded him to stop this time. The sound of the music and the fireworks seemed more distant.

When Leo's lips touched Hazel's, he knew that he loved her. It felt so good, with her lips pressed on his. He knew that he would always remember this moment.

It was a very light kiss, but it was still a kiss. Hazel pulled away, looking terrified and happy at the same time.

"Frank is going to kill me!" She said, but she didn't sound too sad.

"And me." Leo added.

They burst out laughing.

**_I know, very cheesy, but I just wanted them to have a romantic first kiss! I hope you liked it! 3_**


	18. Chapter 18

**_You're just too adorable, all of you! Thanks for the beautiful reviews, and I hope you'll like this chapter!_**

**Chapter 18 – Confused**

**_HAZEL_**

Hazel wiped away the tears from laughing and tried to breath normally again. She looked at Leo with a very serious expression and said:

"Not a word about this to _anyone_, understood?"

Leo grinned, and Hazel felt her heart melt again.

"Yes, sir!" He joked.

Hazel didn't know if she wanted to punch him or kiss him again. The kiss had been wonderful, she had felt so happy to finally kiss the stupid boy, but she knew that she couldn't lie to Frank. And if she told him the truth, he was going to kill Leo and her.

"Um…" Leo looked nervous. Why was he so cute when he frowned like that?! "I'm sorry. It's okay if you just want to forget this, I mean-"

Hazel leaned forward and kissed him again. He was grinning when she pulled away, looking really happy. It made Hazel's heart flip.

"What are you going to say to Frank? I mean, he's obviously gonna kill me for kissing you."

But he didn't look too sad about that.

Hazel put her head in her hands. The panic and guilt washed over her.

"Oh, no. What have I done?! I just ruined a perfectly fine relationship and hurt my boyfriend…"

Well, not_ perfectly _fine – she had feelings for Leo. But it wasn't a reason to break Frank's heart.

Suddenly, she felt Leo's arm around her.

"Hey, s'okay. I'm really sorry. I didn't-You don't feel anything for me, right? So… Just forget it. If you really can't lie, just say that I kissed you. Then _you _won't be killed by a bear or something…"

Hazel laughed a little. She looked at Leo, who was staring at his knees. Then it dawned on her what he said.

"Wait… Do_ you_ have feelings for me?" She asked him.

Leo looked ready to bolt, but managed to grin.

"Well, you're awesome. You're cute. You can find treasures underground. I mean, I understand why Frank like you."

Hazel suddenly felt like she was floating. She thought _she _kissed him, but if Leo liked her…

This was going too complicated.

"But… You don't, right? So we can just forget this." He said. He sounded kind of sad and uncertain.

Hazel couldn't open her mouth. Leo rose and gave her a little sad smile.

"I'll see you later, then. I'll go and tell the others that Percy and Annabeth aren't dead."

He left, and Hazel felt her heart sink.

* * *

"Hazel?"

Hazel was walking back and forth in her cabin when Piper came in.

"What's wrong, Hazel?" She asked. Hazel didn't answer.

"Hazel." Piper gripped her wrist. "Calm down and tell me what's wrong."

Slowly, Hazel met Piper's eyes.

"I've ruined _everything_."

Piper raised an eyebrow and sat down on her bead.

"Exactly what did you ruin?"

Hazel sat down next to Piper and put her head in her hands.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong." Piper warned her.

Hazel sighed and started to tell her. Piper's eyes grew bigger and bigger for every word.

"So you actually _feel _something for Leo?"

"Well, I think so, but Frank-"

"_Yes or no_?"

"Yes." Hazel murmured.

"And Frank?"

"I still like Frank! He is my boyfriend! That's the problem; I can't decide who I like the best."

Piper shrugged.

"Best thing you can do is just to stay away from Leo and Frank right now. The one you miss the most… Well, that's the one you like the most."

Piper left, leaving Hazel even more confused than before.

**_I know that the chapter was short and really boring, but the next will come really soon!_**


	19. Chapter 19

**_Next chapter here! THANKS FOR ALL AMAZING REVIEWS!_**

**Chapter 19 – The flying pig**

**_LEO_**

Leo didn't know how many times he asked himself why monsters existed. But this monster just made him laugh.

The big creature flying over the ship was…

A pig.

"Okay, what is _that_?!" Jason asked.

"Come on, Piggy! Show me what you got!" Coach Hedge yelled.

"That's a… Flying pig?" Frank said uncertainly.

"Just… Why?" Piper asked. "Why a _pig_?"

Only Death Kid was staring at it with serious eyes.

"Have you seen that thing before, Nico?" Hazel asked him.

"Unfortunately, yes. Percy killed it in the second Titan War."

"Oh."

Suddenly, the pig didn't seem so ridiculous anymore. It was flying toward the ship, shrieking furiously.

They weren't flying over Christmas Town of Nowhere anymore. The demigods had gone to sleep after Leo told them that Percy and Annabeth were alive (everyone had asked him why the picture had said that they were dead because of him, but Leo had refused to answer), and when they woke up, it wasn't Christmas anymore. They were flying over the Mediterranean again.

"Well, let's fight Piggy then." Leo said. "Er, exactly how did Percy kill it?"

Nico shrugged.

"I didn't pay so much attention. I was fighting too, you know."

"Perfect." Leo muttered. "Okay, weapons ready, everybody?"

Piper unsheathed Katopris. Jason already held his _gladius_. Frank raised his bow, aiming for the pig. Coach Hedge was already in process of swinging his baseball bat, and Nico was holding his black sword in his pale hands.

Leo glanced over at Hazel. She had a stern look on her face, but her knuckles were white around her _spatha_. She looked like a real fighter, beautiful but scary, and the memories of last night washed over him.

He really had_ kissed_ her. Now she knew that he liked her, but he had left before she could tell him about her feelings. The truth was that Leo was scared. Hazel maybe didn't like him, but even more terrifying: what if she did?! What were they supposed to do then? She had a _boyfriend_, and this was the same boyfriend that could trample Leo to death. And, Leo promised Frank to not move it in on his girl.

The pig was coming closer really fast. Leo didn't know if he should be terrified or laughing. A pink, flying pig was going to attack his ship in a few seconds.

Frank started to shoot arrows at the pig. The arrows slowed the pig down, but not much. Soon, it had landed on deck.

Everybody attacked at the same time. The pig was _huge_, Leo could ride on it if he only could find a way to climb on.

Jason tried to stab the pig in the side, but the pig decided to flap its wings right then, and Jason got hit hard on the head of the fluffy, white wing.

"You did _not _just flap my boyfriend with your wing!" Piper screamed and aimed for the pig's leg.

Unfortunately, the screaming made the pig see Piper and kick her. Piper crashed into the helm, groaning.

Leo shot fire at the pig's wing. It surely made the pig panic, but it wasn't enough to kill it. But while the big pink creature furiously flapped its wing to kill the flames (it did _not _work), Hazel jumped up on it and stabbed it in the neck.

The pig stopped. With a _PFFT!_, it crumbled to dust. Hazel fell down on the floor.

Jason ran to Piper, who managed to say:

"I'm fine. I'm fine."

Leo scanned the deck after damages after the attack, but there didn't seem to be any.

"Well, can we go back to eating now?" Coach Hedge asked. "I'm hungry."

He trotted away. Jason looked worried.

"Does anyone have some ambrosia?"

Frank dug out some from his pockets, and handed the squares to Jason. He fed Piper, who was standing on her feet a minute later.

"Stupid pig." She said. "Come on, let's eat. I'm starving."

Everyone but Leo went to the mess hall again. Leo checked that everything was okay before he could relax.

"Everything looks fine, Festus."

Festus didn't respond. Leo frowned.

"Festus?"

Still no answer.

"Festus, what's wrong?" Leo felt the panic wash over him again. Had the new disk crashed too?! No, it had been perfectly fine before pig-attack…

_The pig._

"Stupid, stupid, _stupid _pig!" Leo said angrily. He couldn't fix Festus while the ship was aloft, and doing it in the water was dangerous too. He could fall or something. It was possible only if they landed, but there was no sign of land, just endless sea.

Leo's mind kicked into high gear. They needed Festus to look out for monsters and possibly kill them with his fire breath. And he helped them find the way and stuff. He couldn't just stop working.

"What the heck am I doing?" Leo asked himself out loud before he started to climb.

Carefully he climbed up to Festus head. He sat down on edge of the ship, trying hard to not look down. He plucked out some tools from his toolbelt and started to work.

When he opened Festus head and found the problem, he wanted to scream.

"_Again_?! I thought that witch learned her lesson when I fought her!"

The disk was frozen. The wires were covered in ice and snow. _Again._

"I'm gonna kill Khione." Leo muttered as he defrosted the disk with a flame. The ice melted slowly, and Festus woke up. He roared loudly.

"Whoa, boy!" Leo said. "Okay, hold still, I have to climb back to-"

"Leo, exactly _what _are you doing?"

Leo turned to see Death Kid staring at him.

"Er…"

Leo jumped down and grinned, feeling very awkward.

"I was…uh… just checking on Festus."

Nico nodded slowly.

"Okay, then. Piper sent me to come and get you, it's lunch-time."

Leo nodded.

"Tell her that I'm coming in a minute."

Death Kid turned and left. Leo sighed in relief. That guy gave him the creeps.

"Better, Festus?"

Festus roared and breathed fire. A complete show-off.

"I'll take that as a yes. Just… Keep an eye for snow goddesses, okay? I wanna be here when Khione shows herself."

He left with the feeling that everything was spinning. He hadn't thought much about Khione recently, but now he started to get worried. Last time she had decided to try to knock Leo out of the sky, it had ended with Festus crashing. If she could make the whole ship to crash, the quest would be doomed.

It dawned on Leo that _Khione _maybe was the other enemy his mother had tried to warn him about. But Khione worked for Gaea, so it was still Gaea who tried to kill them… No, it was someone else. Leo was pretty sure that it was someone who didn't work for Gaea.

Thinking of his dream about his mother made his heart ache.

Suddenly, he bumped into Hazel.

"Oh, I'm sorry-" She started, but when she saw that it was Leo, she stopped.

"S'okay." Leo said and grinned nervously. He felt his body growing warm and his heart race.

_She doesn't like you. Get over it, _Leo thought, but it didn't help.

Hazel smiled a smile that was very faked and hurried off. She didn't even say bye or something.

_See? She hates me,_ the sanest part of Leo said.

_Then why did she kiss me two times yesterday? Huh?_

_Well, maybe she just felt awkward and wanted me to-_

"Shut UP!" Leo said out loud.

He hadn't realized that he reached the mess hall. Everybody at the table were staring at him.

"What did you say?" Piper asked.

Leo scratched his head.

"I didn't mean you, guys."

Without saying anything more, he sat down and started to eat. The others stopped staring eventually. They knew that Leo was kinda' weird out of experience.

"So… What now? Are we just going back to doing nothing while the ship is sailing to Greece?" Jason asked with his mouth full of food.

"Well, mostly. But I have something to tell you-"

Leo told them about the frozen disk. When he was done, Piper balled her fists.

"I _hate _that snow witch."

"Me too. The thing is, we need to be careful. If you see snow or ice on the helm or anywhere else, call for me so I can fix it before we crash."

"Is she really that powerful? She can bring down a whole ship with just ice?" Frank asked uncertainly.

Leo laughed sarcastically.

"She brought down a huge magic bronze dragon with just a little snow. So, yeah."

Frank gulped.

"Any updates about our cupcakes in Tartarus?" Coach Hedge asked Nico and Hazel.

The siblings shared a look.

"Not really. They're alive, but we don't know anything else." Hazel said. "But that's not all, I've been feeling-"

She suddenly flinched and stopped. Death Kid was staring at her with a pointed look, and Leo suspected that he had kicked her under the table.

"That's all." Nico said and cleared his throat.

Leo looked back and forth at Hazel and Death Kid, but they didn't say anything more.

"That's good, right? They're alive. They're fighting. They maybe can make it." Piper said hopefully.

She had charmspeak in her voice, because Leo filled with the desire to nod and agree.

"Listen, guys." He said instead. "It's something I need to tell you-"

Leo didn't want to ruin the others hopes, but they had to know that someone would get trapped in Tartarus. He didn't know if any of them figured that out already, but looking at their innocent and quizzical expressions he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"What?" Jason asked.

"I-Nothing." Leo said and looked down at his plate. "It's nothing."

The others looked suspiciously at him, but didn't say anything. Leo rose.

"I suggest we should take turns and guard on deck at night. We don't want anything to freeze without knowing about it, we need to be there and fix it immediately if it happens."

Leo left the table.

**_Okay, I felt pretty stupid because I forgot the name of the pig. It was the something-I-don't-remember sow… Hope that's okay anyway. Bye!_**


	20. Chapter 20

**_Hello again, guys :D You're just so amazing, you don't know how nice it is to see your reviews after a boring day at school :) You are just adorable!_**

**_Chapter 20 is here! :D_**

**Chapter 20 – Robot-steps**

**_HAZEL_**

Hazel loved Nico. She really did. He was her brother and all, but sometimes he was just unbelievable.

"Why did you kick me under the table in the mess hall?! Haven't you been feeling it too?!"

The siblings were in Hazel's cabin. Hazel sat on her bed while Nico stood with crossed arms in front of her.

"Don't you get it? That's the problem!"

"What's the problem and why can't we share it with the others?!"

"The problem is that we _feel _something." Nico sighed. "Do you feel the same thing? A tickle, something awakening-"

"Monsters stirring – yes, I feel it. And that's why we have to tell the others!" Hazel said.

"That's why we should _not_ tell the others! We are just going to give them more problems, and then they can't focus on stopping Khione, and the ship will crash."

Hazel couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"So you mean we should just forget that something in the Underworld is making evil monsters wake up?! It's dangerous! The other demigods have to know!"

Nico didn't look as certain anymore.

"It's probably just Gaea. The only thing we can do is staying focused on protecting the ship from Khione and sail to Greece."

"Both you and I know that this isn't Gaea, Nico." Hazel said and rose. "Fine, I won't tell them, but it's important. This is maybe the other enemy Leo talked about…"

"That part I didn't know. What other enemy?" Nico asked and frowned.

Hazel blushed a little.

"Nothing. I won't tell anyone. You can go."

Nico nodded and left the cabin. Hazel's thoughts raced. She wondered if she dared to go into her head again, after what happened before.

No, Hazel decided. She didn't want anyone to think she was having flashbacks again.

"Can I come in?"

Frank was standing in the doorway, looking nervous.

"Sure." Hazel said and gestured him to come.

"Are you okay?"

Hazel didn't know what to say. Yes? No? She didn't really know.

"I guess…"

Frank shifted on his feet. He looked adorable as always, but right now his eyes were serious.

"Hazel, I need to ask you something. You have to answer honestly."

Hazel felt how her blood slowly turned to ice. She knew what Frank was going to ask, she knew that he suspected her.

"Hazel…"

Suddenly, sensation flowed back into her legs again. Hazel sprang up from the bed.

"I have to go." She said in a toneless voice. "Bye."

Hazel left the room with robot-like steps, ignoring Frank's voice calling for her. She ran down to the pegasus stables, and just sat down on the floor. What was she doing?! She didn't know if Frank wanted to ask her about Leo. It maybe was something else, like if she was keeping the stick safe or something.

Hazel didn't keep track of time. She felt worse for every minute. She seriously had ran away from her boyfriend?! She was transforming to the most cowardly and worst girlfriend ever.

"_Hazel_?" A surprised voice suddenly said behind her.

She didn't move. She could see Leo's reflection in the glass wall.

"Hazel, what are you doing down here?" He asked. He didn't grin, or blush, or anything. He looked too serious for being Leo.

"I-Uh…" Hazel started, but she didn't know what to say. "I wanted to think, I guess."

Leo nodded, and they fell into silence.

"And you? Why did you come here?" Hazel asked and turned to Leo.

"What? Oh, I just wanted to check that Khione didn't freeze anything down here…" He said halfheartedly.

Hazel frowned a little.

"You seem to be very worried about this snow goddess. Is she really that bad?"

Leo laughed dryly.

"She knocked Festus out of the sky. If she hadn't done that, he maybe wouldn't fell the second time, and then maybe I could repair his body too. Then he wouldn't be a dragon _head._"

His voice was bitter, like he had given it much thought. Hazel didn't know what to say, so she kept her mouth shut. She got back to staring at the landscapes that flashed by.

Leo came and sat next to her.

They sat there in silence, but Hazel felt comforted. It was nice to just _be_ when you had so many problems.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about something." Leo suddenly said. His voice had changed, it was nervous now.

"Stop." Hazel sighed.

"What?"

"Stop _talking_. That's the only thing we have done recently. Can't it just be quiet for a while? No speaking?"

Leo looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a little smile.

"You just talked yourself."

Hazel nudged him, but could barely suppress her smile.

"I thought all girls loved to talk. Especially about their feelings for awesome guys like me."

He grinned, and Hazel felt the sudden urge to kiss him.

_I've already kissed him twice, that's enough, _a voice said in her head. For once, Hazel decided to listen to it.

"Yes, well, I'm not _any _girl." Hazel said. She aimed at the fact that she had been dead for roughly 70 years, but Leo said:

"Well, that's true. You're a metal detector."

"I'm not!" Hazel said fiercely, but Leo was already laughing.

_Gods, he is beautiful, _she thought.

"Seriously." Leo said when he finished laughing. "You know… About what happened at fake-Christmas…"

Hazel felt her cheeks getting red. Leo was blushing too, and refused to meet her eyes.

"Uh…" She shifted uneasily. "I-I don't know what-"

"It's okay, it was nothing. I know you are together with Frank, so we can just forget it."

The way Leo acted about it, all calm and nice, made Hazel even more uneasy. She knew him. Well, she had known Sammy. She knew that this calmness was just an act.

"Look, Leo, I-" What could Hazel say? That she liked him? That she didn't like him? That she liked him because of that he was alike Sammy?

Leo met Hazel's eyes, and she knew she couldn't lie to him.

Hazel took a shaky breath.

"I'm very confused with my feelings right now."

Leo nodded, and looked away. They just sat there in silence. It was warm, they sat close, but Hazel had never felt so cold and alone before.


	21. Chapter 21

**_Oh my gods thanks for all so awesome reviews :-D And yes,_** **_IwooIdreamIwritestories, it means that :-) Or something. I used Google Translate (yes, that's the horrible truth), and it isn't that trustworthy…_**

**_Next chapter is here :-D_**

**Chapter 21 – Spheres, Romans and ice**

**_LEO_**

_I'm very confused with my feelings right now._

What was that supposed to mean? Leo was going out of his mind because of all these confusing feelings. Why were girls so freaking_ complicated_?! Machines didn't have feelings, and they were complicated enough.

Couldn't Hazel just tell him that she didn't like him? Leo doubted he could feel worse than this. By saying that she was confused with her feelings, Hazel was getting Leo's hopes up. It maybe was a small, tiny chance that she liked him too…

But Leo knew that was just wishful thinking. Hazel had Frank, a big scary animal-man that she weirdly enough liked, and all Leo was going to get was a broken heart.

He sighed.

"I gotta go." He said to Hazel and got up on his feet. He didn't meet her confused gaze. "See you later."

Leo left the stables and went to his cabin. Slowly he started to fiddle with some mechanic pieces from his toolbelt, when suddenly a voice behind him said:

"Leo?"

He jumped of surprise and turned quickly. An Iris-message with the image of Nyssa was floating in midair behind him.

Leo automatically transformed his frowning face to a grinning one. He could do that in the matter of milliseconds. It was a handy ability when you tried to not show your feelings.

"Hello, sis. What's up?"

Nyssa rolled her eyes.

"Don't call me that, and _this _is 'up'." Only now Leo noticed that she was holding on of the copies of the Archimedes scrolls, which she opened and showed him.

She pointed at one of the sketches.

"That doesn't even work! How are you supposed to connect the gold wire with the bronze wire if the bronze wire doesn't want to connect with the small metal pad?!"

Leo thought it was incredibly funny that Nyssa came to him for help, especially when she was older than him and had a lot more experience with building magical stuff.

"Oh, poor big sister has to ask little brother for help." Leo said in a fake sympathetic voice.

Nyssa didn't even roll her eyes. She looked almost scary with that super-serious expression.

"Leo, we haven't time to joke around. The Romans are almost here. And as much as I trust the demigods at Camp Half-Blood, I'm really concerned about the Romans attack."

"Why? Camp Half-Blood will crush them."

"If these Romans fights as good as the old Romans of the empire did, we will have a hard time fighting them. And after seeing Jason's powers, I'm pretty sure the Romans aren't to play with."

Leo didn't know what to say. Nyssa was right (but he would never admit it to her); the Romans were good fighters. Just look at Hazel, Jason and Frank. And that Reyna-girl scared him almost as much as Annabeth, and _Annabeth_ didn't have a crazy teddy bear-killing guy who forced her to make stupid decisions.

"Show me the sphere." He said. Nyssa nodded and went out of sight for a few seconds, and came back with a half complete sphere in her arms.

Leo saw the problem immediately.

"The metal pad is sitting on the wrong place. You have to switch places between the metal and bronze pad, so that those wires can be connected to those openings. It's tricky, it would be much better if the instruction images were in color, or if the scrolls were in English…"

Nyssa looked kind of startled.

"Was that everything? No tearing-the-whole-sphere-apart? I think we have torn apart more spheres than we built."

Leo laughed.

"Yep, that's it. But just so you know, that silver wire should be connected to the bronze opening, not the gold."

The Iris-message fainted. Leo was alone again, and now he had even more things to worry about.

The scrolls were really hard to read (dude, it was _Ancient Greek_) and many of the instructions were unclear. Archimedes really had been a genius; Leo figured that he had made it complicated on purpose, so that he could be sure of that the one who tried to build his spheres wasn't just anybody. You had to be a genius to understand his book, or at least a kinda' smart demigod.

"That dude was _so _awesome." Leo muttered.

If his siblings made anything wrong, even if it was just a screw that sat a little too loose, it could create massive problems. Problems like enormous _KABOOM!_'s or super-dangerous spheres going haywire. Sadly, Leo had some experience since he started to try installing his own sphere on the helm.

And, Leo had the horrible feeling that if those spheres didn't work, the whole camp would be crushed by the Romans. The camps chances to survive literally lied on if his siblings were good enough at Ancient Greek.

Leo left the cabin, trying to shake off the unsettling feeling he had gotten from the Iris-message. He decided to go to the mess hall and eat something.

"Leo?"

He turned to see Jason standing behind him. He looked troubled.

"Leo, you might wanna see this…"

Leo grinned.

"What's up, bro'? What do I have to see?"

Jason didn't answer, he just started to go. Leo followed while eating his bagel.

They walked down to the floor where the stables and sickbay where. Leo felt more and more nervous for each minute. Jason was _way _too quiet.

The first thing Leo noticed when they stepped in to the stables was that Death Kid, Coach Hedge, Piper and Frank was standing in a circle around something.

"Hey, what's happening?" Leo asked and frowned. The others turned, all looking pale and startled.

Didn't Frank even look like he had cried?

"Guys, what's wrong?" Leo asked and gave them a nervous smile. "You look like someone di-"

That's when he realized Hazel wasn't there. His grin melted away and he dropped his bagel on the floor.

He walked to the others, pressed himself between Death Kid and Piper, and felt his knees buckle.

Hazel was sitting there, hugging her knees, just like when Leo left her there. Her hair was frizzy as always, her face cute, but in her eyes there was a startled and realizing look that could connect to her condition.

She was covered in ice.

**_Next chapter later :-) Love y'all!_**


	22. Chapter 22

**_I just don't know how to thank you anymore for the reviews. I'm sorry, there's no word that can describe how awesome you are._**

**_Here comes chapter 22 :-D_**

**Chapter 22 – A cold sleepyhead**

**_LEO_**

Leo turned and glared at the others with his super-angry-deluxe look. The others looked a little_ too _terrified, and Leo realized that his forehead was ablaze. Quickly, he forced the flames to die.

"What happened?!" He demanded.

Death Kid looked grim.

"We don't know. I came down here, looking for Hazel and found her like this."

"Leo." Piper's voice was soft, but Leo felt the charmspeak in it. "I know this must be hard for you, that Khione is here, but-"

Leo blinked.

"What?"

He couldn't care less about Khione right then. Hazel was a freaking _ice statue_!

"Forget Khione, how are we gonna defrost her?!" Leo said and nodded toward Hazel.

Everybody looked with pointed looks at him, and it dawned on him what they needed him to do.

"Wait… No-" Leo started. "I can't-"

He glanced at Frank, who looked terrified but grim.

If Leo made a tiny little mistake, it could set Hazel _and _Frank's lifeline on fire. If they died, it would be Leo's fault. And Leo didn't think he could bare the guilt of killing his friends, especially after his mother's death and Percy and Annabeth's accident. And, it would (of course) really suck for them.

He locked eyes with Frank.

"Frank, if I mess up-"

"Just do it!" Frank said angrily.

The others were looking confused, but didn't say anything.

Leo took a shaky breath and muttered:

"Here we go, Flaming Valdez."

He summoned fire in his right hand, and moved it slowly toward Hazel's shoulder. The ice melted a little.

Piper inhaled sharply.

Leo got more and more confident. Slowly he moved the flaming hand to Hazel's back, not letting the flame be closer than an inch to her. The ice melted slowly.

It took maybe half an hour to completely defrost Hazel. She was soaking wet now, but at least not covered in ice.

Coach Hedge touched her face.

"She's still very cold." He said grimly.

"She's loosing it." Death Kid murmured.

Right then, Hazel started to tremble. Leo didn't really know if she was awake.

"We have to take her to the sickbay!" Jason said. "Fast!"

Jason and Frank lifted her up. Leo, Nico, Piper and Coach Hedge followed them to the sickbay. Fast, they put Hazel on the bed and opened her arms and legs (she had been sitting with her arms around her legs in the stables). She was still trembling.

"Ambrosia!" The coach yelled.

Piper handed him the godly food. He fed her small pieces and made Hazel swallow it until she stopped trembling and didn't look so pale.

Leo just stood there, and didn't know what to do. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned. Frank locked eyes with him and mouthed: _Thank you._

Leo nodded and tried to grin, but he felt really weird. Frank had thanked him for being careful and not setting him and his girlfriend on fire. He didn't know that Leo had a crush on her…

"Leo? You okay, man? You look a little pale." Jason asked.

"What? Uh, I'm fine."

Leo stared at Hazel's unconscious, pale face and his mind started to wander.

Hazel had gotten frozen, exactly like Festus disk. It was either Khione or her brothers, but Hazel had convinced Zethes and Calais that serving Gaea was a bad idea. But they had given up surprisingly easy, and that worried Leo. And if the three ice-siblings worked together, Leo was pretty sure it wouldn't end up well for the demigods on the _Argo II._

Frank walked to Hazel and held her hand. Leo almost winced. Would he ever get to do that?

"She just needs to rest." Coach Hedge said after a silent moment. "Let the kid sleep. We'll come back later."

Death Kid nodded.

"It's true. She gets better and better for every second."

"But-" Piper glanced at Hazel, but Jason took her arm.

They left along with the coach and Nico.

Leo didn't know what to do. Frank was sitting on the bed and held Hazel's hand.

"You coming?" Leo said nervously and nodded toward the door.

"Yeah." Frank murmured. "Could you do me a favor?"

Leo shrugged.

"Whatever you want, man."

Frank hesitated, but then said:

"Stay here and warm her with your fire."

Leo almost laughed. Frank seriously wanted him to guard his girlfriend?

"Seriously?" He asked with a sarcastic grin. "What if I accidently set her on fire, and your stick?"

Frank didn't answer, he just walked out from the sickbay. Leo didn't even have the time to stop him.

Slowly he walked to the bed and sat down on it. He gripped Hazel's hand. It was really cold.

"Let's warm you up, huh?" Leo muttered and let his hand catch fire. He did the same thing as when he defrosted her; slowly moving his hand over her body, without letting the flame come more than one inch close.

After maybe fifteen minutes, Hazel was warm enough for Leo to stop. She wasn't even wet anymore.

Hazel's eyes were wide open. She had a scared, but at the same time calm, look in them. Carefully Leo closed them, so she would look like she just was asleep. Then he took her hand.

"You know, I'm not good with feelings and stuff at all." Leo said. "I just know that this will get me into a lot of trouble. Have-a-scary-animal man-after-you kind of trouble. But… I like you."

Leo felt really silly. Hazel couldn't even hear him, and Frank would kill him if he ever tried to flirt with Hazel. And that would have been perfectly fine if it wasn't for these damn feelings he had for her.

Hazel started to move. Leo stiffened and let go of her hand. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

"L-Leo?" She asked uncertainly. "What are you doing here? Where am I?"

Leo scratched his head and grinned nervously.

"In the sickbay. Frank wanted me to keep you warm, so… Yeah."

Hazel blinked a few times.

"What happened? I just remember sitting in the stables, and then suddenly getting really cold and hearing a laugh behind me…"

Leo froze.

"Wait, a laugh? Female or male?"

She looked uncertain.

"I-I don't know, really. I don't remember."

Leo's shoulders slumped. He wanted to know if it was Khione or her brothers who had frozen Hazel. Maybe that could help the demigods to fight them. Knowledge is power, as Annabeth would say.

"It's okay. Do you feel any better?"

"A little cold, but I'm fine otherwise." Hazel answered and tried to smile, but her teeth chattered from cold.

"I'm pretty warm. You mind if…?"

Leo held out his arms awkwardly. Hazel blushed a little, but said:

"Sure."

His heart raced when he hugged her. Wasn't this, like, the thousand time they hugged? Was it normal for a guy who is supposed to not move it in on a girl to hug her so many times?

"Do you sweat more because of these fire-powers?" Hazel suddenly asked.

Leo laughed, but then got a little confused. He scratched his head.

"I don't think so. Or maybe I do…"

Now it was Hazel's turn to laugh. She curled herself to a ball and rested her head on Leo's shoulder. Leo felt as if small electric shocks went through his body. Hazel seemed perfectly fine, happy and comfortable, not at all nervous.

He wondered if it was like this to have a girlfriend. Leo imagined himself sitting in a couch with Hazel, cuddling and watching a movie. Kiss each other whenever they wanted to. It seemed almost too perfect. But demigod-couples probably didn't have time to do stuff like that, being responsible for killing monsters so they would't destroy the world.

"Do you think it was Khione who froze me?" Hazel asked Leo after a moment of silence.

Leo frowned.

"I don't know… Maybe. Or Zethes and Calais, if Gaea convinced them to work for her again." He said uncertainly. "But really, I don't know."

Hazel nodded.

"Feel better?" Leo asked her and grinned. "Did 'Leo the Element' make you warmer?"

"Yes, very much." She said, and Leo thought he could see a smile on her lips..

They fell into silence again, and Hazel closed her eyes. Leo just continued hugging her, feeling cozy and comfortable. But still, he couldn't stop glancing at the door, worrying about what would happen if Frank suddenly stepped into the room.

Slowly, Hazel's breaths became heavier. Leo realized she had fallen asleep, and couldn't help but smile a little. She looked so peaceful and cute.

Somebody knocked at the door. Hazel groaned by the sound. Leo shot a cautious look at her and tried to say as low as he could:

"Come in."

Piper peered into the room, first looking worried but then smiled when she saw them. She mouthed: _She fell asleep?._ Leo nodded and put a finger over his mouth to tell Piper to be quiet.

She smiled again and tiptoed in. She formed her hands to a heart and showed Leo, who blushed and mouthed: _Shut up!_ (which was kinda' weird, when Piper hadn't said anything).

"Why did you come here?" Leo whispered. His cheeks were still a little red.

Piper shrugged.

"Just wanted to check on you two, but you look like you are having a great time together." She smirked.

Leo rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Beauty Queen. Just tell the others that she feels better."

"Great. Take her up to the mess hall when she has woken up."

Piper walked to the doorway, shooting a final amused look at Leo and Hazel, and left.

Leo worried about that Piper was gonna tell everybody that he hugged Hazel and that Frank would hear it.

_Nah. She is my friend. And she understands love and stuff better than anyone else here, _he thought.

* * *

He didn't keep track of time, but it took a while before Hazel woke up. She rubbed her eyes and sat up.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Leo said and grinned to Hazel.

She looked confused, and blushed when she saw that Leo had an arm around her. Quickly, he let go of her.

"Did I fall asleep?" Hazel asked and fanned herself that cute way she did when she was flustered.

"Yeah, kind of." He said and gave her a nervous smile.

"How long have I been asleep?"

Leo shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe a few hours…"

Hazel's cheeks got even redder.

"You've been here all the time?"

"You kinda' fell asleep on me, so I couldn't really go even if I wanted too." Leo reminded her.

They were silent for a moment.

"I, uh-Where's the others?" Hazel asked at last.

"Piper came and checked on us a while ago, but I guess they're in the mess hall or something."

Hazel nodded, jumped off the bed and dusted off her denim jacket. Leo stretched his arms, happy to be standing on his feet again after hours of sitting down.

"Let's go to the mess hall." Hazel said.

Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Can you walk? I think you should rest-"

"No, it's okay."

"You maybe should eat a little more amb-"

"No, I'm fine." She insisted. "I'm perfectly fine."

Leo shrugged and followed her out from the sickbay.

**_I hope you liked this chapter, because I enjoyed writing it :-) Next chapter will probably come tomorrow. Review please :-D _**

**_Bye! _**


	23. Chapter 23

**_OMG OMG OMG OMG 103 REVIEWS!_**

**_I love you soooooo much! Thanks to your awesomeness, I've managed to keep up my writing and update pretty often (which I usually suck at)._**

**_I'm torn between letting Frank now about the kiss or not… Well, well, I've got time to decide. _**

**_Here comes the chapter! _**

**Chapter 23 – A stinging betrayal and an evil voice**

**_HAZEL_**

Hazel was trying hard not to blush.

The fact that she had fallen asleep in Leo's arms was embarrassing enough, but that wasn't too hard to explain away ("I was tired!"). But falling asleep on him after kissing him was just terrible, especially when you had a _boyfriend_.

Hazel tried to recall that warm, fuzzy feeling she got when she thought of Frank, but it just wasn't there. It had faded away since she met Leo, and now she didn't even smile when she thought of his cute clumsiness.

She turned to Leo, who was quietly walking next to her while fiddling with some mechanic pieces.

"Do you think Khione froze me?" She asked him.

Leo didn't answer. Hazel couldn't quite make out his face in the dark corridor, and he didn't meet her eyes.

"I don't know." He said at last. "It could have been Zethes or Calais too. But it doesn't matter who it was, the most worrying fact is that they just sneaked in without anyone of us noticing."

Hazel pursed her lips.

"So… What are we going to do?" She asked him. "Just wait for them to show up?"

Leo sighed.

"I don't have a clue."

They walked in silence.

When they reached the mess hall, six demigods rose from their seats. Frank's face lit up and he smiled, but it just made Hazel feel guilty.

"How are you?" Jason asked her. He was smirking.

"Better." She answered shortly and took a seat next to Piper.

"So your finally awake, Levesque!" Coach Hedge boomed. He trotted in, dragging his bat after him. "And what now, cupcakes?"

"What should we do about Khione?" Piper asked uncertainly.

"I know what we should do with that goddess. We track her down, she freeze you, and then I swing my bat and hit her in the head-"

Nico cleared his throat.

"That seems like an… interesting scenario, coach." He said. "But I think that finding her should be pretty hard. What about waiting for her here?"

"She can sneak in without any of us knowing she _is _here." Jason reminded him.

Suddenly Hazel felt a small explosion in her stomach. A dark female laughter echoed in her head, and she didn't really know if she heard or just imagined it. She saw how Nico froze. Had he felt it too?

"I'm-I have to go. I need to rest." Hazel said and jumped to her feet. "Nico, can you come with me?"

"Sure." Nico rose.

The others shot strange looks at them, but Hazel ignored them. Fast, they left the mess hall and headed for Nico's cabin.

"Did you feel it?!" She asked as soon as they closed the door.

"Yes. " Nico said grimly. "That was… new."

Hazel stomped her feet impatiently.

"We _have _to tell the others. You know that unusual monsters are waking up, and it isn't Gaea's fault."

Nico shook his head.

"Not yet. We don't even know what kind of monsters it is!"

"Another reason for us to tell them! We can't feel what kind of monsters they are, it's like they aren't really… Existing." Hazel insisted.

Her brother didn't respond.

"Can we wait just a few days more?" He pleaded. "I'll promise that we'll tell them soon enough. I just want to do some research about these mysterious monsters…"

Hazel wanted to tell him no, but she just couldn't. He was her brother. And a few days weren't that much.

A knock on the door made both the siblings jump. Hazel opened to see Frank.

"Are you okay, Hazel? You weren't in your cabin so I thought…" He said uncertainly.

Hazel tried to smile.

"I'm fine. I just needed to speak to Nico. Uh, I'm kind of tired. I'll see you later?"

Frank nodded and looked at Nico suspiciously.

"Yeah. If you please could leave my cabin…?" Nico asked, but it sounded more like an order. Nico's seriousness and hardness had bothered Hazel at first, but after he told her about Bianca… Well, she could understand why he was like this.

"Sure. Bye." Frank said. He gripped Hazel's arm and almost dragged her out.

"Can you tell me what's happening?!" He demanded and glared at her.

At first, Hazel didn't understand what he meant.

"W-What do you mean?" She asked and laughed nervously.

"Leo. You not even saying _hello _to me when you come into the mess hall. Do you know how worried I was?!"

Frank's eyes were full of anger, shame, sadness and concern. Hazel realized that it was killing him, how much she was with Leo but not him. She felt an explosion of guilt in her chest, and she couldn't speak.

"Frank-I-"

Then she remembered something Leo said in the sickbay.

"But _you _told Leo to stay with me." Hazel said slowly. "Why-"

Now Frank looked really ashamed. He wouldn't meet Hazel's eyes, and he shifted on his feet.

"Uh, well-"

The truth dawned on Hazel, and a shadow crossed her face.

"Wait-You _planned _this!" She said, shocked. "You made Leo speak to me about that flashback too! He said 'Frank thinks you had a flashback'. You senthim to me, and you did it now too, counting on that he wouldn't tell me that it was your idea. Then you-then you blame _Leo_?!"

Frank didn't answer. Hazel felt like she was transforming to stone.

"You wanted to have a reason to blame him, make me feel uncomfortable with being with him and then have me on your own?" Hazel asked him.

She had trouble to believe it. It couldn't be true. Frank didn't act like that. He was nice, and cozy, and cute. He didn't make up evil plans to make other boys leave his girlfriend alone.

"I-I can't believe it." Hazel stumbled back. "You're not like that."

Frank curled his lip.

"I had to do it. I had to see if-"

"If Leo was a threat." Hazel nodded, trying to force down the tears that was forming in her eyes. "You wanted to see how far you could push him, if he would make a move on me. But I still don't understand _why_. Leo wasn't a threat before you decided to make him one! You sent him to be with me, which made me trust him even more, so I started to go to him when I was troubled. You gave us the chance to create a bond, Frank. And do you know what? I'm grateful. I've made a wonderful new friend."

Frank opened his mouth, and closed it several times. Hazel's hand trembled.

"Did you do it?" When he finally spoke, he was so quiet that Hazel almost didn't hear him.

"Did _what_?!" She growled. Now when the worst of the shock was gone, it made space for a whole lot of anger.

"Kiss." Frank met Hazel's eyes, and she could see how guilty he was. But still, it was some kind of fire in his eyes. He still wanted to know if his plan had worked. "Did you kiss him?"

Hazel felt like she was falling to pieces. What had happened to the world? This couldn't just be right.

A part of her wanted to throw it in his face, scream that she actually _had_ kissed Leo. Another part just wanted to flung her arms around him and pretend that this conversation never happened, that Frank never did any of these terrible things.

She decided to tell him. It didn't matter how many stupid things Frank had done, he was still Hazel's boyfriend and he deserved to know.

But then, she felt like ice crawled up her throat. Frank had done something that was even worse than her. If Frank hadn't encouraged Leo to be more with Hazel, then maybe they never would have kissed.

_It's Frank's fault_, a soft voice hissed in the back of Hazel's head. The funny thing was, she was sure she heard it before. _He betrayed you, not the other way around. Just tell him, he can't blame you anyway._

"Yes." She whispered. The sadness was gone, the anger too. Hazel felt empty inside, and not in a good way. Somewhere deep in her soul, she knew that she shouldn't listen to that voice. It only wanted them to be ripped apart, be angry at each other and get filled with hatred. It was evil.

_So what? _The voice said, and Hazel imagined the source of it to sneer. _You deserve whoever you want. If they betray you, you should leave them._

Hazel didn't want to. She wanted to fight that voice, and she knew that it wasn't her who spoke thw words:

"Yes. And you can't blame me, because it's _your _fault."

**_Yes, yes, I know. It isn't alike Frank at all to do something like that. But it's an important twist in the story, so please don't review and tell me that it was OOC, because it was meant to be._**

**_Otherwise, hoped you liked the chapter! Sorry that it took time to write it… I've been busy with Christmas coming up._**

**_Merry Christmas, and please review! _**


	24. Chapter 24

**_Merry Christmas! :D _**

**_I almost got tears in my eyes when I saw your reviews. You're too amazing, too adorable, too awesome to be real. 3_**

**_Here's the chapter!_**

**Chapter 24 – Ghoul **

**_LEO_**

Leo almost had stopped thinking of his dream. He thought the memory of it had finally faded away, with the fear and worry the dream had brought. He could sleep at night again without being afraid of seeing his mother's face and terrified eyes.

Leo didn't want to be reminded of the dream either. He had shoved it to the back of his head, and when he thought of it, he just wondered who the other enemy could be.

But, of course, he got reminded of the dream the worst way ever.

He dreamed a new one.

Leo was standing in the same dark space as in the dream before. But this time, his mother wasn't there.

Slowly, the fear started to crawl up his throat. What was he doing here?! Where was his mom?!

Despite that the fear was almost paralyzing him, Leo started to examine… Whatever it was. A room, maybe?

Suddenly, he heard a voice. Leo froze, sure that a monster would come and eat him or something.

"So… Is the plan going well?" The voice hissed. It was raspy and just the sound of it made Leo think of dead and ghosts, but he was pretty sure it was a female.

Another voice answered.

"Yes, actually it is. The puny demigods don't even know who we are, or how much we are playing with them."

Leo realized that he knew that voice. It was an icy, soft female voice. The voice of Khione.

"Tell me about the plan again." The raspy voice said.

Khione sighed unhappily and impatiently.

"Again?!"

The other voice didn't answer, but Khione started to tell her anyway.

"First, we play with or dear demigods minds. Tear them apart, turn them to each other. When they're unfocused, we show ourselves and kill them all. Then, they can't close the Doors or save their friends in Tartarus."

The raspy voice laughed. The laugh was horrible, it send a shiver down Leo's spine. He walked toward the voices in the dark, and suddenly felt eight years old again. Alone, scared, angry, worried, just like that night his mother died.

"It sounds perfect." The raspy voice said. "Are we done here for now?"

"Yes. But-" Khione started.

"Don't you have demigods to play with?" The raspy voice demanded.

To Leo's surprise, Khione stopped. She didn't usually let others boss her around, but she apparently respected this source to the raspy voice.

Next surprise was that he suddenly hit a wall.

"Ouch!" He whispered and rubbed his head.

"What was that?" Khione's voice instantly said suspiciously.

"Probably one of my ghosts." The other voice said, amused. "You're not scared, are you?"

"Of course not." Khione answered angrily. "I just don't understand why this has to be our headquarter. My palace-"

"Your _father's _palace." The raspy voice corrected. "And you know I can't leave the Underworld unless it's nighttime."

Khione muttered something that Leo couldn't hear.

"Do you have anything else to rapport?"

"Actually, yes. I've ruined that son of Mars and daughter of Pluto's relationship. First, I-" Khione started. Did she sound proud? This wasn't much like the Khione Leo had met…

"I don't need the details." The other voice said coldly. "But well done."

"You done anything lately?" Khione asked with a teasing voice.

"Well, I haven't done too much. But I actually made the son of Hephaestus dream of us right now. He is behind that rock." The raspy voice said, clearly very amused.

"What?! The fire boy?!" Khione screamed, her voice shrill.

Okay. They knew Leo was there. He was hiding behind a rock. Miss Raspy Voice had made him dream of them. Tricky.

"Er, pretty good time to wake up, please." Leo muttered.

"_Mijo_."

Leo turned so fast that he fell to the floor. His mother was standing in front of him. She was a ghost, but otherwise just as he remembered her. She was floating one inch over the cave floor and her face was just as warm and beautiful as always.

"M-Mom?" He stammered. "Mom, you have to leave, there are some evil goddesses-"

"_Mijo_, I know. I love you." Her voice was smooth, nice, but Leo felt a shiver down his spine when he heard it. It was his mother's voice, all right, but something was terribly wrong.

He realized that her eyes were cold, and that they didn't look directly at him. Her smile looked distant and kind of cold, an expression Leo never seen on her face.

"Mom?" He asked uncertainly. Slowly he rose to his feet and backed to the stone wall.

"It's me, _mijo_." She assured him. "I love you. Everything is going to be alright."

Leo felt fear crawl up his throat again. Why did he feel so terrified? It was his _mother. _

It dawned on him what's wrong.

"You're not my mom." He said grimly. "Miss Raspy Voice made you come here. How-How _dare _you pretend like you're my mother?!"

The smile melted of her face. Slowly, she started to change. She became more solid. The black pupil of her eyes started to grow, and after a moment the black color had taken over her eyes completely. Wait… Were there any eyes there at all or just empty voids?

Her right side started to become white and chalky. Now she was as solid as a human, but it looked like all blood had drained out of her. Her right side hardened and blackened, like a black mummy. The t-shirt and tattered jeans of Leo's mother morphed into a golden dress, and her hair transformed to a golden shawl.

Leo couldn't move. His mother had just changed into a scary ghoul. Was that normal demigod-stuff or what? Because if it was, Leo swore that he was gonna die of fear any day soon.

The only thing he could think of to say was:

"What the heck are you for something?!"

The _thing _laughed, and Leo realized that it was Miss Raspy Voice.

"You don't know me? Well, I'm not that famous in… what you call 'Greek mythology'. I believe I've met one of your friends, Percy Jackson, the boy with no ghosts. Luckily for me but unfortunately for you, you have ghosts. Your mother, for example."

For a second, her form flinched and she became Leo's mother's ghost again.

"Who are you?!" Leo asked with a trembling voice.

"I'm not going to ruin the fun, am I? You have to find that out! Unfortunately your real mother's ghost reached you in a dream and warned you for a new enemy, and you were smart enough to suspect Khione quite soon. She doesn't like you either, Leo Valdez. But I'm not holding grudges, so I'm not going to punish you for coming here. It will only make it more fun."

The ghoul-woman sneered in a way that made Leo think: _"Oh-oh."_ He didn't understand a thing of her rambling but that she was a friend of Khione and that they together was planning on ruining their quest to close the Doors of Death. And she liked ghosts.

"Just don't tell anyone about this dream, will you? Don't you want this game to be _fun_?"

Leo had a strong feeling that this ghoul and he had very different definitions of _fun_.

He felt his eyes slowly open, the cave faded away…

Suddenly his eyes flung open.

"Ghosts!" Leo said instantly.

"Leo?"

His eyes darted forth and back in the cabin before he saw that Hazel was standing in the doorway.

"I'm sorry, I should have knocked-"

"No. No, it's okay." Leo said. He was breathing sharp and fast, and his heart was almost leaping out of his chest.

"Can I come in?" Hazel asked nervously.

Leo just nodded.

Hazel slowly walked to his bed and sat down on the edge of it.

"Are you okay? You don't look too good."

_You don't look too good? _His head was throbbing, his heart was pounding faster than it should be possible for a human and he almost couldn't breathe. Yeah, you could say that.

Despite that, he managed a weak:

"I'm fine. Why are you here, by the way?"

"I-" Hazel didn't finish. She looked like she had been crying.

Leo suddenly remembered Khione's words:_ I've ruined that son of Mars and daughter of Pluto's relationship…_

Did that mean Hazel was available?

"Is it Frank?" Leo blurted.

Hazel put her head in her hands.

"I've done something terrible."

Leo sat up and rubbed his eyes. He realized that he probably looked like a mess, but right now he didn't care.

"Hey, it's okay. Just tell me what happened."

Hazel started to tell him everything, how Frank sent him to be with Hazel (Leo felt kinda' guilty there, he could have chosen not to listen to Frank) and how she had found out and this voice that told her to break up with him…

In other words: Khione had spoken in Hazel's mind and made her break up with Frank. She maybe even taught Frank to do these things.

Carefully Leo put an arm around her. Under the entire time she had been speaking, she hadn't raised her head. Leo didn't know if she was crying or what.

"It's okay." He mumbled. "Its' okay."

Hazel looked up and managed a faint smile.

"Well, enough about that. Why did you scream 'ghosts!' when you woke up?"

Leo opened his mouth, meaning to tell her about the dream, but the ghoul-woman's words echoed in his head_: Just don't tell anyone about this dream, will you? Don't you want this game to be fun?_

Without really knowing what he was doing, he just said:

"It was nothing. Just a nightmare."

Then, he felt an explosion of guilt and shame in his stomach. If Hazel didn't get to know about Khione and the dream, she would continue to blame herself for the break-up with Frank. And despite how much Leo liked her, he wanted her to be happy, and having Frank as a boyfriend had made her that.

But when he opened his mouth to tell her, it was like cold hands curled around his neck. If he told Hazel, he would maybe never get her. And maybe she needed time without Frank, time to get to know Leo as more than a friend. _Then _she could decide.

Deep inside him, Leo knew these thoughts weren't his. It was ghoul-woman, or maybe Khione, playing with his mind. But he couldn't fight those cold hands.

The hands disappeared, and Leo didn't mention the dream.

"So, why did you come here? I mean, Death Kid is down the hall-"

"Don't call him that."

Leo may have grinned if he wasn't so shaken up because of the dream.

"Whatever you want, Miss Metal Detector."

Hazel was quiet for a moment, but then she said:

"I needed someone to speak with. As a friend." She added hastily.

"So why not Piper? Or Jason?" Leo asked. He knew it could be dangerous to push too far, but he wanted to know.

Hazel shifted, but then smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"You're not going to stop, right?"

Leo almost grinned.

"Nah. I'm too good for that."

She laughed, but it was a pained laugh.

"You're so much like Sammy."

The tension in the air became awkward. It never made Leo feel good to speak about Sammy, his great-grandfather, who had been Hazel's crush.

Hazel was looking down at the floor, a small smile playing on her lips.

"He would never give up either. He always played with me, joked and kidded around. Just like you. But do you know what makes you different from him?" She suddenly turned and met Leo's eyes. It sent a tingle in Leo, like he was going to catch fire. "You are everything good in Sammy, and the… darker things that are only you."

Leo didn't really know what she meant. He felt his cheeks get warmer.

_No fire. No fire_, he demanded himself.

Hazel sighed and gave him a pained smile.

"Well, I have to go. Thanks for listening to my rambling."

Leo didn't even stop her when she walked to the door, gave him a last forced smile and left. He felt like she had taken out his brain, injected it with more problems and thoughts, and put it back. It wasn't a good thing.

**_A little long, a little boring, I know XD But next is going to be better… I hope. See you and merry Christmas!_**


	25. Chapter 25

**_Hello everybody! Hope you had a really nice Christmas! :) Thanks for all reviews! _**

**_Here comes the chapter!_**

**Chapter 25 – I miss him**

**_HAZEL_**

Hazel felt like she was going to throw up.

The ship was on water again, and it was a stormy day. The big waves rocked the ship from side to side, and Hazel felt like all the food she ate was going to crawl up in her throat.

The mood in the mess hall wasn't good either. Frank wouldn't stop glance at Hazel, his eyes rimmed with red and full of pain. Leo was staring in to his plate, frowning and looking troubled.

"So, what's up?" Jason asked. "When are we going to reach Greece?"

Leo didn't seem to hear what Jason had said. Piper cleared her throat.

"Leo?" She said.

"What?" Leo raised his head. "Oh, right. Uh… We're going to reach Greece in just a few days."

"It's August 1th in a few days too." Nico muttered-

"Frank, are you okay?" Piper asked, frowning. "You look like you've been crying."

Frank shot a cautious look at Hazel, who looked away.

"Well, see you later." She said and rose from her seat.

"Hazel, wait!"

Hazel walked out from the mess hall as fast as she could, hearing Frank behind her.

"Hazel!" He said.

She turned and met his gaze.

"What? What do you want?" She asked him sternly.

Frank looked terribly sad, but he said:

"I want you to forgive me. Please, Hazel, it was just a mistake, I didn't mean to-"

"You tried to test how long it would take before Leo and I became more than friends! And you wanted us to kiss, so you could blame Leo and scare him off so he never would even speak to me! That's so terrible, so scandalizing, I can't understand how _you _of all people would do something like that! It isn't you, Frank. I'm not sure if I really know you anymore." Hazel almost screamed, her voice trembling.

Frank's eyes widened. He looked shocked, sad, angry and devastated at the same time. Hazel felt like she just had yelled at a cute puppy. How could she do that?!

"Okay." He said quietly. "Well, I-I'll see you."

He left, and a new voice said:

"Hazel?"

She turned to see Leo stand a few meters away. He looked nervous.

Hazel felt the tears burn in her eyes.

_Since when did I start to cry so much?! _She scolded herself.

Leo looked as cute as ever. Hazel wanted to kiss him, but then there was Frank, and even if they were broken up it just felt _wrong_…

She forced a smile and cursed the tears that were running down her cheeks.

"Hi." She said.

For a second, Leo looked torn, but then he walked to Hazel and hugged her tightly. Hazel stiffened of surprise, but then hugged him back.

"It's okay." He murmured in her hair. "Or at least, it's going to be."

Hazel sobbed. Leo felt just like Sammy, and the only thing she really wanted was to be with him. She wanted Sammy back. She wanted to be with him, laugh at his jokes, in that normal world she had lived in before; there she worried about being bullied and not being killed by monsters every day.

Leo didn't say anything. He just held her, and Hazel continued to sob in his shirt. Somewhere in the back of her head, she thought that he maybe didn't like having his shirt soaked in snot, but she didn't care right now.

If Hazel tried really hard, she could pretend that she was being hugged by Sammy. She could pretend that she was back in the schoolyard, maybe Rufus had hit her and that was why she was crying, and Sammy tried to comfort her. She could pretend that she was a normal girl in the 1940's, not a demigod who had died and come back.

"I miss him." Hazel sobbed quietly, but she had the feeling that Leo heard her. "I miss Sammy _so much_."

Leo didn't respond. Hazel didn't really want him to - he had to feel uneasy with her speaking of Sammy. And as selfish as it sounded, she didn't want him to say anything to ruin this moment. Hazel felt home in his arms.

Slowly, Leo pulled away from the hug. Instead, he wrapped one arm around her and led her to his cabin.

They sat down on the bed. Hazel had stopped crying now. Leo looked nervous and uneasy again, with traces of red on his cheeks.

"Feeling better?" He asked her uncertainly.

Hazel nodded. She felt a little embarrassed over her break down, but she felt better. Leo rose and walked to a mini fridge and dug out a small box.

He turned to Hazel and showed her the box, grinning.

"Ice cream. Always helps for a break-up. At least in movies."

Hazel laughed. Leo gave her a spoon and opened the box.

"Thanks." She said to him. Leo looked surprised.

"For the ice cream?"

"No… For understanding. And being there." Hazel said quietly.

Leo looked troubled. He shifted.

"Hazel, I have something to tell you-"

Then, suddenly, he stopped. Something was wrong, Hazel could see it in his eyes.

"Leo?" She asked uncertainly.

But when she looked at him again, that look in his eyes was gone. He looked normal again.

"Are you okay?"

"I-Yeah." Leo said. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He still looked a little troubled.

"You were going to tell me something?" Hazel said.

Leo swallowed. He met Hazel's gaze, looking… Scared?

"I can't tell you. It's-I-"

It looked like he was trying to tell her, but something just didn't let him.

"What's wrong, Leo?" Hazel asked, worry rising up her throat.

"Stupid hands." He muttered.

"What?"

"Hands. Cold hands. Khione working with ghoul-woman. Underworld. Evil plan."

Leo got a terrified look in his eyes. It was like he couldn't get the words out from his mouth, and it was terrifying Hazel.

"Leo? What's wrong?!" She asked, almost panicking.

Suddenly he started to tremble.

"W-Wha-" Leo trembled even worse. He looked like he was going to be sick. He fell down to the floor.

"I-Mom-" He inhaled sharply. "No-"

Leo trembled so badly, that he fell down on the floor. His eyes twitched.

"Leo!" Hazel screamed, fell to her knees and shook his shoulders. She dropped the ice cream box on the bed. "Leo, w-what's happening?!"

He looked like he couldn't breathe. His shaking hands rose to his throat.

"Stop it!" Hazel tried to rip his hands off his throat, but they were as hard as steel.

Leo got a distant look in his eyes. He stopped tremble, just laid there completely relaxed (but his hands, which still clenched his throat).

"I can see her." Leo said, longing. "I see her-"

Hazel felt the panic crawl up in her throat, hurting and sticking. She knew who he was speaking of. His mom.

Leo coughed. His hands clenched harder.

"HELP!" Hazel yelled. "HELP! H-HE IS LOSING IT!"

Fortunately, she heard the sound of running steps outside the cabin. Nico and Coach Hedge stormed in.

"What?! What's up with Valdez?!" Hedge asked.

"I felt someone dying." Nico cursed and knelt next to Leo.

With Coach Hedge and Nico's help, Hazel managed to pull away Leo's hands from his throat. His eyes were glazed over so you could only see the whites, and he seemed to be unconscious.

"Wait…" Coach Hedge said warily.

Suddenly Leo blinked and inhaled sharply. Then he started to cough.

"What happened?! We heard-" Piper and Jason suddenly appeared in the doorway, breathing hard. Her eyes fell on Leo and she paled.

Leo looked around him with wild eyes, he looked like he didn't recognize any of them. His skin was colder than usual, and he started to tremble again.

"Leo?" Piper said with a soothing voice. "It's okay. What happened?"

But even her charmspeak couldn't calm him down. He looked scared, even terrified, and it wasn't before he lay eyes on Hazel he stopped shiver.

"W-where is she?! I saw her. She was here. S-She-" His voice broke. He looked so vulnerable, so scared, worse than that night when he dreamed the dream about his mother.

"It's okay, Leo." Hazel said slowly, but it didn't work. She clenched his hand.

"Who is he speaking about?" Jason asked and frowned.

Hazel shot him a look of unbelief. Jason was Leo's best friend. Didn't he know?

"Let's take him to the sickbay, cupcakes." Coach Hedge said. The boys picked Leo up, who didn't even protest, and carried him away. The others followed them.

Hazel realized Frank wasn't there. She glanced over her shoulder and wondered if she should go and get him.

_No, honey. He's not your responsibility. Not anymore._

Hazel felt how her body listened to that horrible voice. She wanted to scream no, she wouldn't listen to that stupid voice, she could control herself, but still she just nodded when Piper asked if she was coming.

**_I know, not very good, but it's kinda' important for the story :/ _**

**_See you!_**


	26. Chapter 26

**_I haven't so much to say but…_**

**_THANKS FOR ALL AMAZING REVIEWS!_**

**_ Enjoy! :P-_**

**Chapter 26 – The golden whistle **

**_HAZEL _**

Leo didn't get any better.

Hours went by, but Hazel didn't care. She sat next to Leo's bed in the sickbay, tried to comfort him, make him calm down, but it just didn't work. He shivered, sweated, and sometimes even cried. Hazel had almost given up hope.

"I saw her." He repeated for the thousand time, and looked into Hazel's eyes. They were like shattered glass, broken and maybe even unfixable. "She was there-The fire-My fault…"

Hazel asked herself over and over again who Leo meant with saying "ghoul-woman". Speaking of her had made him go… She refused to think the word _insane_, but it was exactly what had happened to him. He had gone insane.

"It wasn't your fault." Hazel said. "Your mom's death wasn't caused by you, Leo."

Leo didn't seem to hear her.

"I can get her back. I just need to make a deal. Swear upon the river Styx. I'll get my mom back, I just need to help ghoul-woman-"

Hazel froze.

"What did you say?" She said, hope surging through her. "Ghoul-woman? Who is that? Tell me, Leo."

"Ghoul-woman. Likes ghosts. Have my mother's spirit." Leo muttered.

_Likes ghosts_?

Suddenly it dawned on Hazel who this ghoul-woman was. All color drained out from her face.

"Melinoe." She whispered. "Oh, no. Please no."

But Leo's eyes lit up.

"Melinoe! It's her! I need to get mom back from Melinoe-"

"No, Leo." Hazel whispered. "You can't make a deal with Melinoe. No."

"I know how to do it. I just have to dream of her again, she will speak to me-"

"Stop it!" Hazel almost screamed. "You're _not _going to make a deal with Melinoe!"

Everything fell into place. Hazel understood know. Khione and Melinoe were working together, they was planning on killing the demigods on the _Argo II._ Khione worked for Gaea too, but Gaea didn't know about her and Melinoe. Melinoe didn't cooperate with Gaea. She just wanted Pluto to get knocked of the throne of the Underworld, so she could be able to be outside her cave in daylight too.

And Khione… Well, Melinoe supposedly had promised her a reward if she helped her. Khione was playing on both Gaea's and Melinoe's side. Melinoe couldn't fight the demigods in daytime, so Khione did that for her. Melinoe would appear in their dreams instead.

"Leo. Leo, listen!" Hazel said and clenched his hand harder. Leo stopped mumble and met hazel's gaze. "Tell me exactly what Melinoe told you in your dream."

"Why?" He asked and frowned. "My mom-"

"This will help getting her back." Hazel hated that she needed to lie to him, but it was the only way. "Come on. All the details."

Leo started to tell her, and for every word Hazel became surer of that it was Melinoe. She wasn't happy about it, but now she at least knew who the enemy was.

"Wait here, Leo. I'm back in a moment." Hazel said. She rose and ran to the door, where she bumped in to Nico.

"Nico!" She said breathlessly. "I've got news-"

She told Nico, who's eyes grew bigger and bigger for each word.

"We have to tell the others! If it really is Melinoe-Well, we have to try to fight her."

Hazel nodded. They ran up to deck, where everybody was standing and staring at the helm, trying to figure out what all the buttons were needed for.

Coach Hedge turned.

"What's up, cupcakes? How's Valdez?"

Hazel felt a little guilty for just leaving Leo there, but this was really important.

"You need to know something."

"So what you're saying is that the goddess of ghosts and the goddess of snow are working together, and it was Melinoe who did this to Leo?" Piper asked. She had a fire in her eyes.

Jason looked grim.

"Well, how do we fight them? Khione will keep freezing stuff on the ship and Melinoe will try to make us all go mad."

"First, how do we cure Leo?" Hazel asked impatiently. "He isn't getting any better."

The coach shrugged.

"How do you cure someone who has gone insane and sees the ghost of his mama?"

Everybody looked angrily at him, especially Hazel. She trembled with rage.

"Don't you get it?! Leo thinks he can make a deal with Melinoe in a dream so he can get his mother back. What do you think she is going to ask for?! We got to cure him! He-I-"

"Hazel, it's oka-" Jason started.

"No, it's_ not _okay. We need to help him." She said and stormed back in.

Hazel left the others, she felt them staring at her back while she ran back to the sickbay. She felt like it was all over, they had too many enemies, and everything was going just wrong. She didn't care that getting angry on the others would just tear the group apart, and that was exactly what Khione and Melinoe wanted them to do.

Leo didn't seem to notice that she came back. He was muttering about an oath, a deal, a way to get back his mother. Hazel sat down on the chair next to the bed and put her head in her hands.

Why did everything have to be so… _Dark_? That was exactly what everything was. It was just wrong and dark…

_It's always darkest before the dawn. _

Automatically, Hazel's hand took out the golden whistle from her pocket. Was it worth it? Maybe she would need it later. Maybe it would get worse. No one was dying, for example.

It struck Hazel how selfish that was of her. Her problems weren't that terrible. If she used the whistle now, it would be mostly to solve her own issues. Maybe they would have much bigger problems in the future, and then they were screwed if she used the whistle now.

Still, Leo looked horrible. Dark lines circled his eyes, and he looked terrified all the time. He needed to get better.

Slowly, Hazel moved the golden whistle to her lips, but suddenly she heard a panicked voice in her head.

_Don't do it! Stop! _

She knew it was Khione, and hearing her that angry and scared almost made Hazel smile. She instantly knew that if she blew the whistle, that voice would leave her alone. Khione didn't want her to use the whistle? Guess it was settled then.

Without any hesitation, Hazel blew the whistle. It didn't make a sound, but she felt how it grew warmer in her hands. Warm light filled the room until Hazel couldn't see a thing. Leo didn't say a thing.

Then the light died. Everything looked exactly like before. Hazel blinked, confused, a few times before she saw what had changed.

Leo was unconscious again, but he looked like he was asleep. He started to move and then opened his eyes. For a second, they were glowing gold, but then they got the normal brown color back.

"Leo!" Hazel ran to him. He blinked a few times.

"H-Hazel? What happened?" Leo asked, frowning. "I remember dreaming of-Oh, right. You need to know about ghoul-woman, she-"

"I know." Hazel said calmly. "It's Melinoe. How are you feeling? Headache? Anything?"

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you." He grinned, and Hazel felt how her whole body relaxed. Before she could stop herself, she lunged forward and kissed him.

Leo pulled away almost immediately.

"What about Frank?" He asked uncertainly.

Hazel bit her lip and looked away. She didn't want to think of Frank, she just wanted to be with Leo. But she couldn't just start a new thing with Leo without first had the whole Frank-thing figured out.

She almost expected Khione's voice give her a stupid advice, but then she realized that snow goddess would finally leave her alone.

Hazel looked at Leo, his brilliant brown eyes, that cute, goofy smile of his, those oily black curls. Just like Sammy. Just as amazing as Sammy.

She took a deep breath.

"We're over." Hazel said. She regretted it as soon as she said it, but she couldn't ignore her feelings for Leo anymore.

Leo's eyes widened.

"Really? Like… Over _over_? Over so we can-"

Hazel felt warm and dizzy. Leo's eyes were hopeful, happy, but still unsure. Just like she felt. But she needed a break from Frank, and she liked Leo, she really did. But in the back of her head, she couldn't stop thinking: _what if I only like him because he is so much like Sammy?_

Leo regarded her. For every second, he lost a little of that hopeful gleam in his eyes.

"I-" Hazel swallowed. "You have to understand, Leo, I can't just-I don't want-"

His face fell, but he masked it within a few seconds. He grinned, but it looked a little false.

"I get it. Uh, I just wondered."

Hazel's heart ached. Leo looked down and started to fiddle with some mechanic pieces. She wanted to kiss him again so badly, but she couldn't just jump into a new relationship now. But then she remembered what Frank had done, how hurt she had been, and she looked at Leo. Leo would never do anything like that. _Sammy _would never do anything like that.

Hazel felt herself smile.

"Just don't tell anyone, okay?"

Leo raised his head. His eyes glowed.

"Am I secretly dating a Metal Detector or what?" He asked and grinned one of those goofy, annoying but cute smiles.

"Shut up, Repair Boy." Hazel laughed and kissed him one more time.

**_What about that, huh? :) Hope you liked this chapter! I enjoyed writing it. I'm a big Lazel shipper too, you know! ;)_**


	27. Chapter 27

**_I'm SO sorry for not writing lately! I've been busy – but the important thing is that I'm back now with a brand new chapter! _**

**Chapter 27 – Hurricanes **

**_LEO_**

Love? How can you explain it?

Well, Leo just needed one word. Hazel.

He was really happy that they were kind of dating now. Sure, no one knew about it, but maybe that made it even more exciting.

Still, the worries about his mom, Khione, Tartarus and all the other stuff weren't gone. The pain of his mother's dead hadn't eased. Leo stilled dreamed about her every night, always the same dream; his mom as a ghost who screamed that he had to leave or he would get hurt and Melinoe's raspy laughing behind him. He felt a cold hand on his shoulder, and when he turned Khione was standing there with her other hand raised, ready to use her freeze-powers. Leo tried to summon fire, but it didn't work. Khione smiled coldly and aimed her hand at the ghost of Leo's mother, who froze to a statue. Leo screamed and suddenly he could summon the fire, but he lost control. The flames surrounded them, Melinoe's and Khione's laughing echoed in his mind, he couldn't see but refused to stop looking for his mom, he couldn't lose her _again_…

Leo woke up, drenched in sweat and breathing hard.

It didn't matter how many times he dreamed it, it always scared him out of his mind. Slowly Leo started to breath normally again. He got up and sat down by the desktop in the room and started to work with the things he left there the night before.

Leo wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was frightened. He had started to dread sleep. He was too tired to do anything on the days, and he couldn't sleep at night. Hazel had pointed out how tired he looked and asked if he had nightmares, but he had changed subject. Even the other started to get suspicious, mostly because he blacked out and fell off his chair once in the mess hall.

He didn't remember anything from the time he spent insane. Hazel had told him about all the rambling and stuff, but when he asked _what _he had been talking about she would just clear her throat and pretend to not hear him. The other demigods wouldn't answer that question either.

It was just two days until August 1th, and Leo was pretty sure they would reach Greece in any day now. They had figured out Khione and Melinoe's plan, Nico knew where the House of Hades was, and after so many days of doing nothing everybody was prepared for a good fight.

Leo sat and fiddled with his machine parts until the morning came. He hauled himself to the mess hall, where Piper and Hazel was sitting and chatting. Hazel's face lit up when she saw Leo, but it quickly turned to a worried expression.

"Leo, what's wrong? You look _awful_."

"Well, so nice of you." Leo said and rolled his eyes.

"No, Leo, Hazel is right." Piper said and put down her cup with hot chocolate with a frown. "You look like you haven't slept in days."

Leo sat down and ordered a coffee. Not because he liked coffee, it was disgusting, but it kept him awake for a few hours.

"I'm fine, and I'm _not _tired."

"Yeah, that's why you are spilling all your coffee on your plate." Hazel said and smiled ironically.

Too late, Leo realized she was right. He put down the coffee and cursed.

"What's up. cupcakes?" A new voice said suddenly. Coach Hedge stepped into the mess hall with is baseball bat slung over his shoulder. "Are we in Greece yet?"

"No, not yet, coach." Hazel said, still frowning at Leo. He refused to meet her gaze.

"Why is it coffee on Valdez plate?"

Leo sighed and started to clean up what he spilled.

"Can everybody just lay off my coffee? It just told me that it feels very humiliated." He said.

Piper raised one eyebrow, but no one said anything.

That was when it happened.

It was like an explosion. The whole ship tumbled sideways, a loud bang made the girls scream. Leo rose to his feet and ran to Hazel's side. She was hugging he stomach and looked green, but she managed a small:

"I'm fine. We have to see what's going on!"

Piper and Coach Hedge had already started to run for the deck. Hazel and Leo followed them.

When Leo came there, he looked around him hysterically, looking for the cause of the tumult. Jason, Nico and Frank were already there, but when Leo saw what was wrong he forgot everything about the others.

"What the hell are _you_ doing on my ship?!" He yelled at the goddess.

Khione was casually leaning toward the helm, which had started to freeze by her mere touch.

"I needed to speak with you." She said.

The sound of her voice sent a chill down Leo's spine, and the memories of the nightmare washed over him.

"You're _not _permitted on my ship, ice princess." He said with disgust.

"Is it like this you treat guests?" Khione asked with a cold smile and spread her hands.

"Guest?! You've only made our lives miserable. So leave immediately or we'll fight you." Jason said and gripped his sword.

"Oh yeah, cupcake! I'll kill you, and then we will bury your body in-"

Piper nudged Coach Hedge so he would stop.

Khione looked bored.

"First, son of Jupiter, I was under the influence of Gaea. And you, satyr, can't kill me. I'm immortal. Let me finish now."

Leo glared at her, rage rushing through his body. It was when Hazel gasped he finally realized that his hair was on fire.

"I'm here to give you my apologies. I'm sorry for trying to kill you."

Piper snorted. Khione looked at her, and Leo saw her eyes burning with anger. A moment later it was gone, hidden behind her cold mask.

"I know you know about Melinoe and my plan. But you have to understand that she was forcing me to do it. I'm not on her side anymore, I'm here to help you."

Leo had never heard something that sounded less fake. He started to laugh, ignoring the looks the other gave me.

"Is this an offer? Because I want that even less than I want to join your ice-doll collection back in your daddy's palace. So get gone."

He locked eyes with Khione. He could see how angry she really was, he felt how the temperature dropped.

Leo summoned fire on his finger.

"You wanna taste this again? You ran last time. I'm glad to take up that fight again."

"And we're going to help him." Hazel said grimly. "You have three seconds to leave before we fight you." She draw her sword, her face still a little green. But Leo never thought of her that beautiful.

The others nodded grimly and draw their weapons. Leo grinned to Khione.

"I said _get gone_, ice witch."

For a second, Khione looked startled. Then she straightened and smiled coldly.

"Well, if you want to settle it that way…"

The temperature dropped ten degrees in a second. A snow-hurricane started to swirl around Khione, and lifted her up in the air. Leo's grin widened and he made his hands catch flames.

"You know what, demigods?!" Khione screamed over the sound of the growing hurricane. "You don't deserve my apologies. You will be the first victims who were stupid enough to stand up to me and Melinoe. Enjoy your last moments of life!"

"So you _do _work with her!" Piper yelled. "We know your silly plan! You're not gonna win!"

Khione smirked.

"Let's see about that, daughter of the love goddess."

She shot a blast of ice toward Piper, who didn't have time to duck. She froze to an ice statue.

"No! You're gonna pay for that!" Coach Hedge yelled and ran toward Khione with his baseball bat raised, but before he reached her he froze too.

"You haven't a chance." She laughed coldly.

Jason shut his eyes and concentrated. A hurricane started to swirl around him, and it didn't stop grow before he was floating in midair. It looked really cool. He lunged toward Khione with his gladius raised, and before she could do anything he had cut her shoulder.

"_What did you just do?!_" She growled and aimed her blast of fire at him, but he dodged it.

At the same time, Leo ran to Piper and melted the ice with a blast of fire.

"Thanks." She gasped.

Frank shot a bunch of arrows at Khione, but before they touched her they froze to ice and fell down. Death kid (a.k.a. Nico) made three skeletons rise from the floor, but they didn't even have time to turn toward the snow goddess before they were transformed to snow.

Hazel gripped Leo's arm.

"Show that ice witch, Leo." She said with shining eyes. "You are the only one of us she fears! You can do the same thing to her as she did to Festus."

Without even thinking, Leo kissed her. He didn't stick around to see her reaction; he ran toward the snow-hurricane and felt how his whole body caught fire on the way.

**_Next chapter comes later!_**


	28. Chapter 28

**_Well, I'm back with a new chapter :) Just because my week was nice it doesn't mean this chapter will be nice or happy :P Just kidding. _**

**Chapter 28 – We'll figure it out **

**_HAZEL_**

Hazel thought she was going to throw up.

She couldn't move without a new wave of nausea washing over her. She wanted so bad to join the fight, and being nauseous was a stupid reason to not be able to defend your friends, but she couldn't. The ship rocked too much.

And, she felt a little dizzy. Leo had kissed her right in front of everyone. Hazel glanced at Frank, but she couldn't see his face. Had he seen it?

Leo was fighting Khione, his whole body in flames. She had managed to knock Jason down, Coach Hedge was running around and yelling, Nico was trying to summon more skeletons but Khione just waved them off, Piper was frozen again after trying to attack the snow goddess and Frank was still shooting arrows that Khione dodged or froze. And what was Hazel doing? Standing on the same spot as before, hugging her stomach and trying to don't lean over.

Leo was incredible. Khione had finally stopped the snow-hurricane and was now dancing out of the way from Leo's columns of fire. Anger and fear was reflected in her coffee brown eyes.

"Take this, ice princess!" Leo shouted and aimed at her stomach, but she just dodged the column.

"Don't get too big-headed, Valdez, I'm a _goddess_." Khione growled and created an ice-wall to protect her from the flames.

Leo grinned playfully and melted the ice-wall with a mere touch. The goddess was now standing in a puddle of water, looking angrier than ever.

"Is this because of the nightmares, Valdez?" Khione asked. "Dreams are dreams, Fire Boy. Nothing more. But apparently you're so scared of reality that you can't even sleep without dreaming of what may come."

Leo slowed down, looking like he had been punched in the face – and Khione smiled triumphantly and shot a blast of ice toward him. It hit Leo and froze him to a statue, and for a moment Hazel couldn't breathe, but then the ice melted of him and made place for a whole lot of flames. His whole body was basically on fire, from head to toe.

"Do you know what, ice princess? I'm not scared. Actually, I'm really happy. It was so nice of you to come and visit our ship. Because now, I get the chance to _kill you._"

Khione didn't have time to duck or even move. Faster than Hazel thought was possible Leo threw himself at her, nailed her to the floor, his eyes burning with rage (and fire). Khione screamed, Leo's flaming hands was burning in to her face. Slowly, she started to melt, like an ice sculpture.

"We're not done." Khione gasped. "We'll never be."

"Let's see about that, huh?" Leo said.

Hazel knew goddesses couldn't die. Khione couldn't just _di_e. But she had the feeling that Leo ahd drove her away, at least until they reached Greece.

Frank lowered his bow. Coach Hedge stopped yelling and stopped. Nico stood there, his hands raised in an awkward pose to try raising more skeleton warriors. Jason was still unconscious, and Piper was frozen. Everybody was quiet, staring at Leo who was sitting down in a puddle of snow, still smoking.

The whole world was spinning in Hazel's eyes. She felt a new fresh wave of nausea and before she could stop herself she leaned down and puked.

Leo and Frank ran to her side right away. She held up a hand to show them that she was fine, even if her mouth tasted awful.

Coach Hedge trotted over and patted Leo on the back.

"Good job, Valdez. Now, let's get that cupcake to bed before she throws up all over the place."

Hazel slowly straightened and followed Coach Hedge down to the sickbay, leaving Frank looking hurt and Leo looking shaken.

"Seasickness, huh?" The coach asked and pulled down Hazel on the bed. "Nothing can cure that as well as fresh-pressed orange juice."

Hazel didn't dare to open her mouth. She was still in a state of shock, not just because of the throw-up but because of the fight. The way Leo had looked, so fierce and angry, scared her.

"Here's a bucket. Feel free to throw up as much as you want, Levesque. I'll come back with a glass of orange juice in a moment."

Without really knowing what to say, she tried to nod as the satyr left, humming on a song like everything was fine.

Hazel didn't want to be in the sickbay, she wanted to ask Leo what Khione and he had been talking about. She wanted to comfort him, not throw up. She felt guilty; I wasn't she that needed the help, _he _did.

A knock on the door.

"Hazel?" Nico peeked in. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Hazel snapped and sat up. "How's Leo?! What happened up there?! What did Khione talk about?!"

Nico came in and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Calm down. We gave some ambrosia to Jason so he woke up and Leo melted the ice so Piper is free now. They're talking to him. He seemed pretty shaken up, but that's all."

"I have to talk to him." Hazel said immediately and remembered the word she had heard Leo say that night he told Festus about his nightmare: _Piper and Jason's idea of quality time doesn't involve me anymore._

"Calm down, Hazel. Leo's okay. What's the big deal anyway? He fought, so what? I don't mean to be rude-"

Hazel stared at her brother in disbelief.

"He just fought a goddess! Khione mentioned his mother! And something about nightmares… How would you feel if you had nightmares about your mom and an enemy goddess knew about and probably caused them?!"

Nico didn't answer. He twisted his skull ring without meeting Hazel's eyes.

"I'll tell him that you want to talk." Nico said at last. He looked a little ashamed. "'I'm sorry. Get well soon."

He left the sickbay just as Coach Hedge came back with the orange juice. He handed it over to Hazel, who murmured a "thank you" and started to sip it.

"Why so serious, cupcake? We just chased Khione away! You should be happy."

"Uh, yeah. I mean-I am." Hazel replied flatly.

Coach Hedge hummed and just messed around a little, until he yawned and said:

"Well, I gotta go. If it something, just call and we'll come."

He trotted out, leaving Hazel staring down at the orange substance in the glass. Leo was having nightmares about his mother again? Why hadn't he told her? It made total sense. That's why he looked so tired nowadays.

Apparently, Khione was involved. Did that mean Melinoe was too? She had a vague memory of Leo mentioning that toying with the demigods' minds was a part of Khione's plan.

Hazel wondered what they were trying to do this time. Last time Leo dreamed a nightmare he had gone insane, rambling about making a deal with the two goddesses to get his mother back. Most of the crew had lost someone they loved. If Khione and Melinoe were going to make everyone go insane and make a deal with her, Hazel knew the demigods' would give anything to get their lost loves back. And that would make the snow-and ghost goddess to get exactly what they wanted. Hazel didn't have any more golden whistles; she would never be able to cure all of them. And what if _she_ went insane?

It wasn't just that. Apollo had said "it's always darkest before the dawn", and sure, it had seemed very dark indeed when Leo had went mad, but Hazel knew that it wasn't the darkest thing that would happen to them on the quest. She kept wondering if she had acted right, using the whistle for him, when they maybe would get in a lot more trouble in Greece. What if they would get stuck in a horrible situation where the only thing that maybe could save them was the whistle and Hazel wouldn't be able to do anything because she already used it once? Maybe she should have tried to examine the other ways of curing Leo before she used it.

"Nico said you asked for me." Leo's voice came from the doorway.

Hazel flinched and returned to reality. She smiled weakly and said:

"Yeah. Come in."

Leo looked like a total mess. His whole body was smoking, his hair all over the place, and dark lines under his blank, shocked eyes.

"Are you okay?" She asked with a worried voice.

"I'm-Yeah. Sure." Leo answered flatly.

Hazel rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Leo. That was the biggest lie I ever heard. Now tell me what Khione was talking about."

Leo hesitated. He started to fiddle with something form his toolbelt that cute way he did when he was nervous or worried.

Hazel softened.

"Leo." She jumped off the bed and walked to him. "What's wrong?"

She was surprised that he managed to pull off a grin.

"Nothing, Hazel. Just some nightmares. They didn't mean anything."

"What if they did?"

Leo didn't answer.

Hazel stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

"Will you tell me now?" She asked.

"If I don't, will you kiss me again?" Leo joked.

"You're hopeless."

"So I've been told."

"Just tell me now!"

Hazel refused to take no for an answer, and Leo seemed to realize that.

"I've been having these nightmares." He started nervously.

He told her everything. Hazel could almost imagine being there, and it made her shiver.

When Leo was finished, Hazel didn't know how to comfort him. He refused to meet her gaze; he looked down at his hands while fiddling with those things he had pulled out from the toolbelt.

"Leo, it will be okay." Hazel assured him.

"Yeah. Sure." Leo muttered.

"I mean it. As long as we get through it together, it will all get figured out."

Hazel could see that he doubted her. She couldn't bring herself to say anything else, because she knew it would sound too lame. So she just wrapped her arms around him and kissed him again, sweet and soft.

"We will figure it out together. I know everything feels really complicated right now, but we will get through it." She said.

"And if it is too complicated?" Leo asked mournfully.

Hazel didn't know how to answer that.

**_Okay, I maybe wasn't kidding after all…_**


	29. Chapter 29

**_Thanks for all the beautiful reviews! I can't believe that so many people like my writing XD YOU'RE AMAZING._**

**_So here we go! _**

**Chapter 29 – Dreams**

**_LEO_**

Leo didn't sleep that night.

He was too scared of what he would dream of. He knew Khione well enough to know that she would seek revenge, and if she couldn't do it in reality… Well, then she would do it in nightmares.

Plus, he had this unsettling feeling of that Khione's attack had been the first in a long row. It would come more. She and Melinoe weren't done.

Most of all, Leo was scared of Melinoe. She was a minor goddess, but she was powerful. She had tricked Leo, even made him go insane, and he was scared out of his mind that she would do the same thing to the other demigods on the ship.

One good thing had come out of it, though. Hazel was so concerned for him, she would be with him all the time. He loved spending time with her. They avoided speaking about the nightmares or the goddesses; they discussed what monsters Gaea had woken up and what would happen if they would win this war instead.

Still, it made Leo's heart ache to be with her so much, especially when they spoke about what would happen after this Giant War. The future was unclear, but they both knew enough to be sure that they would go home to their respective camps. Leo wanted so badly to believe that they maybe would make the two camps to one or that they would at least visit each other, but he doubted it.

"Leo?"

He turned to see Piper behind him. She was wearing a dressing gown and her hair looked like a mess.

"What are you doing?" She asked him. "Are you still steering? You've been here since 7 PM yesterday! Go get some sleep!"

Leo had the feeling that she tried to use charmspeak, but was too weak. He gestured to her to come to him.

"What's wrong?" He asked her firmly. "You seem…"

"Tired? Worn out?" Piper asked in a tired voice. "Yeah. I am."

Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Do I need to ask why, Beauty Queen?"

She groaned.

"Don't call me that! I just haven't been able to sleep."

"Nightmares?"

Piper got a weird look in her eyes.

"Not really." She met Leo's eyes. "I-It's not like regular demigod-nightmares. I've been dreaming the exact same dream all the time."

Leo felt a shiver go down his spine.

"What did you dream of?"

Piper shifted on her feet, looking troubled.

"I don't really… _See _anything. I just hear this voice. At first, it just whispered silently and I would think it was just some silly dreams. But now… I can hear what it says. I think it is Gaea. She has this raspy voice and she murmurs about the awakening of spirits…"

It was like someone just had poured a bucket full of freezing water over Leo. He tried to mask his face.

"I'm sure it's nothing." He said, trying to sound calm. "It's just dreams. We have been so worried and stuff during these days so we dream weird things. You should go back to sleep."

"Leo-"

"Piper, I'm serious." He said, this time almost angry. "It's nothing. You can go back to sleep."

Piper didn't say anything, but he felt how she regarded him. Leo kept his eyes on the horizon.

"Leo, you talked about something similar when you went insane. I don't think it's nothing. I think you know it too."

Leo pursed his lips.

"Just go, please."

She turned and left, leaving Leo alone. Now she wasn't there, he felt like her worry suddenly had been dumped on him too. He tried to focus and think straight.

Piper had been dreaming of Melinoe too. This meant she had started toy with her mind, just like in their plan. She planned on making everybody go insane, and the problem was that there was nothing they could do about it. How do you defend yourself against your own thoughts and dreams? If there only was someone that could stop Melinoe from doing that, someone who had control over dreams…

"I know who you need to speak with."

Leo jumped in surprise. The voice was unfamiliar, but there was something in it that reminded him of Percy. He turned to face the stranger.

He had as black hair as Percy, the same sea-green eyes, but he was older, maybe 35. He was wearing a fisher man-hat, a Hawaii t-shirt, shorts and sandals.

Something with him made Leo's skin tingle. He could smell the ocean, but it wasn't the sea around the ship.

"Poseidon?" Leo guessed.

The sea-god smiled.

"That's right, kid. Very nice ship. As the god of the sea, I appreciate the hard work behind building one. It's very strong indeed."

Leo didn't really know what to say. He just stared at Poseidon, who was examining the deck. He couldn't think of any reason for the god to visit them so late at night. Or visit them at all.

He put the question aside and asked a simpler one.

"You said you knew who I need to talk to…?"

"Ah, yes. Dreams can be tricky. Many gods send messages or work through dreams, but only one has control over them."

Poseidon didn't say anything else. Leo felt a little annoyed.

"Who is this guy then?"

The god looked surprised.

"Oh, I thought you knew? Didn't Percy tell you about him?"

Leo frowned.

"Percy didn't mention a god of dreams."

"His name is Morpheus." Poseidon explained. "He is the son of the god of sleep, Hypnos. He was on Kronos' side in the Titan War."

"Doesn't that mean he is on Gaea's side now?"

"According to the rumors, both he and his father are going to be neutral in this war. If you can find a way to make him help you, he won't disappoint."

Leo nodded, still a little startled over the god's sudden visit.

"Where do I find him?"

Poseidon chuckled. Leo felt slightly embarrassed.

"Well, where do you expect to find the god of dreams?"

It slowly dawned on Leo.

"You mean I have to _dream _of him? How am I supposed to do that, if the only thing I see when I close my eyes are Melinoe making evil plans with Khione?"

"Calm down, kid. He will come if you call for him."

With that, Leo knew that discussion was finished. Poseidon wasn't going to answer any more questions about Morpheus.

"So exactly why are you here? Just to tell me about Morpheus?" Leo asked suspiciously.

The sea-god rolled his eyes, but looked a little amused.

"You're like your father. Always thinks there's a plan behind everything. Is it that strange for a god to visit a demigod-ship?"

"Yes." Leo said firmly. "Yes, it is."

"Well, then." Poseidon looked slightly annoyed. "I _do _have a cause, actually. Yes, partly to tell you about Morpheus, but also to tell you that you have to hurry. The rising of the giants and monsters are taking less time than we suspected. Gaea will attack in the morning."

"In the _morning_?! This morning?! We won't be in Greece until tomorrow night! I thought she was going to do it on August 1th?!"

"I'm going to speed up your ship a little, enough to make you be there by 8 AM. You won't notice that it's going faster or anything, you will just find yourself there much earlier than expected." Poseidon said.

Leo had a bad feeling. Why did the god even help them?

"Why are you helping us at all? Why is it so important for the gods that we win? Why can't you fight on your own?"

"Gods and demigods need to work together in this. And, I want my son to survive." Poseidon told him dryly. "I've been helping you all the time."

Leo didn't understand, but the god disappeared before he had the time to ask more questions. When he blinked, Poseidon was gone, leaving a soft sea-breeze that didn't even need to be from him, but from the sea all around the ship.

He left the deck, walking certainly through the corridors of cabins, but still trying to not wake anyone up. He knocks carefully on Hazel's door, hoping she isn't asleep.

"W-What is it?" Hazel opens the door, rubbing her drowsy eyes. Her hair looked like an absolute mess, but Leo always thought that was very cute.

"Leo!" She blushed a little. "What-Is something wrong?"

"I-I don't know." Leo answered sincerely. "We need to talk."

Confused, Hazel opens the door and let Leo in.

"I'm sorry for waking you up." He started when he saw how Hazel almost darted off when she sat down on the bed.

"No, no, it's okay." She said and gave him a sleepy, adorable smile. "Anything for you, Repair Boy. So what's wrong?"

Leo started to tell her about Piper's nightmares and Poseidon's visit. For each word, Hazel's eyes widened.

When he was finished, she looked both horrified and excited.

"Leo, this means we will be in Greece in a few hours!" She said, jumping off the bed. "And we have to find Morpheus before it's too late! Did Neptune-sorry, I mean Poseidon-give you any instructions about how to find the god of dreams?"

Leo frowned.

"He said that I should call for him in my dreams, whatever that means."

Hazel was too jittery to be able to stand still. She almost went as hyper as Leo. It made him smile.

"What?" She asked him when she saw that he stared.

"Nothing." He said quickly. "We have to wake up the others. C'mon."

**_I'm sick so I'll be at home a few days, so you can expect some chapters coming soon :) Love ya! Keep on reviewing! _**


	30. Chapter 30

**_I wish I could go to each one of you and just give you a big hug, because I can't thank you enough for all these reviews. I don't know what I have done to deserve such amazing readers._**

**Chapter 30 – The fish**

**_HAZEL_**

"So we have to try to find Morpheus in our own dreams? What is that supposed to mean?" Jason asked, frowning.

The demigods and the satyr was sitting in the mess hall, each one of them drinking their third cup of coffee and trying very hard to not fall asleep. It was still late at night, but Hazel could feel how time was slipping through their fingers. They had to get this done before they reached Greece.

"I can't even control my actions in all of my dreams." Nico said slowly. "I guess we'll just have to try calling after him in the dream?"

Piper shifted.

"Well, he can't visit every one of us, right? We have to pick one, or maybe two, who have to try."

"Obviously Valdez then." Coach Hedge said. "Poseidon told him to do it."

Leo looked nervous. He stared down at his coffee.

"You could have told me that before I drank three cups." He muttered.

Hazel gripped his hand under the table and gave him a calming look.

"It sounds good." She said. "How many hours left to 7 AM?"

Piper checked her clock.

"5 hours. We have time." Her voice was soothing, and everybody started nodding and agreeing.

Nico was the first one to shake out of it.

"Two people have to sleep. If one fails, we still have a chance. Exactly how long do they have to sleep?"

"Not so long, right?" Frank said. "I mean, they're just going to have a little chat with Morpheus."

"Are we sure he is on our side?" Jason asked, looking grim.

"Poseidon said that he and his father are neutral in this war." Leo said in a hollow voice. "As long as we can give him something in return, he will be loyal."

The room went quiet. Hazel could tell that the thought of having to give something back to the god worried them.

"I don't think he will need anything big or special." Hazel quickly said. "I mean, he is a god. If he wants something, he can just go get it. Maybe he will just ask for a small favor, or even help us for free."

"Everything comes with a price." Nico warned. "You of all people should know that, Hazel."

It was like being stabbed. He was right. She had sacrificed herself and her mother so that Gaea's giant wouldn't rise. For trying to help her mother to not go to the Fields of Punishment, she had to turn decline the offer to go to Elysium, so they both ended up in the Fields of Asphodel. To be with Leo, she had had to break up with Frank. It was true; everything comes with a price.

The silence was eerie. No one said anything, until Piper opened her mouth and said:

"We can worry about that later. Who besides Leo are gonna try call for Morpheus?"

"I can do it." Nico spoke up. "I have traveled in dreams before. I'll give it a shot."

"Great!" Coach Hedge smashed his hands together and grinned like a madman. Hazel was pretty sure he had drunk more than three coffees. "So let's get these cupcakes back to sleep!"

"I think you should sleep in the mess hall." Piper said nervously. "So we can wake you if something happens."

Nico looked slightly annoyed.

"All right then. We just have to go get some sheets and pillows."

Leo and Nico rose to their feet and walked down to their cabins to get the things they needed.

"Am I the only one with a bad feeling about this?" Jason asked quietly.

Piper stared down at her hands. Hazel bit her lip. Frank shook his head slowly.

"I don't think it's going to work." Frank said. "How is Morpheus supposed to hear them?"

"We'll just have to try and support them." Hazel whispered. "We have to try. Otherwise, Melinoe will use nightmares to make us go insane, and it's not like we can avoid sleep. We have to be fully awake in the war."

The boys came back a moment later. The demigods (and the satyr) tried to make the floor as comfortable as possible. Hazel couldn't help but feel sorry for Nico and Leo; if they were going to try searching for a god, they at least deserved nice beds.

And another thing that worried her was _how _they were going to fall asleep. They both had drank a lot of coffee.

"Well, good night then." Nico said.

"Be careful." Hazel pleaded.

Jason turned off the lights.

Jason, Piper, Hazel, Frank and Coach Hedge sat at the table, waiting for something to happen. After half an hour, Nico and Leo had finally fallen asleep. Now, an hour later, no one of them had woken up or showed any signs of something unusual.

Hazel was tired. She had been staring at the silhouettes of the sleeping boys on the floor for a long time now. She felt her eyelids get heavier for each minute, and she was actually not sure if she was dreaming or what.

"You should try to sleep." Piper whispered in her ear. "I'll wake you up if something happens."

Hazel didn't really know if Piper was using charmspeak or if she just was too tired to argue, but she nodded and rested her head in her arms on the table. Maybe she could be a little useful and call fro Morpheus too.

She dreamed that she was in a dark room. She couldn't see anything, but she heard voices somewhere in front of her.

"Hello?" She asked uncertainly.

"Hazel?!"

Leo and Nico came out from nowhere.

"What are you doing here?" Nico asked.

"What are _you _doing here?"

Leo shrugged.

"I think that it's some kind of dream-magic. One second, I'm here alone and screaming Morpheus' name, and then Nico popped out from nowhere doing the same."

"I fell asleep thinking that I maybe could help you." Hazel said uncertainly. "Maybe that's why we are in the same dream, because we all have the same task."

Nico looked around him.

"Should we just call for Morpheus?" Hazel asked.

"We tried doing that, but it doesn't work. He won't come." Nico said grimly. "Maybe Poseidon didn't mean call like in scream his name."

"You mean with a phone?" Leo asked with a frown. "We don't have phones."

Then, it dawned on Hazel.

"Not with a phone, an _Iris-message_." She said. "Does anyone of you have any money?"

Nico pulled out a golden drachma from his pocket.

"Where are we gonna find a rainbow in this place?" Leo asked. "It's like, the middle of Nowhere."

Hazel thought for a moment.

"We are controlling our own actions, right? So maybe we can... Travel to other places?"

Nico's eyes widened.

"Come here!"

Leo and Hazel glanced at each other before walking to Nico. He grabbed their arms.

"Think about a meadow." He said. "With a lake and trees and stuff. Concentrate really hard. If we all think about it, maybe it will travel us all there."

Leo's face broke in to a goofy grin.

"Cool. So if I think of a candy store, I will get to one?"

"Just concentrate." Hazel closed her eyes and thought of a meadow. A beautiful meadow with a glistering blue lake, white flowers that made the whole meadow smell sweetly, green trees with different kind of fruits hanging on the branches, sunshine streaming down through the foliage….

She opened her eyes to the sound of purling water. She gasped of surprise, because it was exactly the meadow she had pictured in her head.

Nico and Leo blinked a several times before they could really get what they were seeing.

"We just need to find a rainbow now." Leo said firmly.

"Over there." Hazel pointed at the lake. Different colors were rippling on the surface, making a faint rainbow.

The three demigods walked over there. Nico threw his drachma in it.

"Oh, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show us the god of dreams Morpheus." Nico said.

The drachma didn't sink to the bottom of the lake, so Hazel assumed Iris had heard them. A dim image showed on the surface, an image of…

"Is that a fish?" Leo asked. "Because it looks like one."

Hazel didn't quite believe her eyes either, but then she remembered the myths she had read about Morpheus. He could change shape to whatever he wanted.

So Hazel did the natural thing; she bent down so she could see the image clearer and spoke to the fish.

"Excuse me. Are you Morpheus, god of dreams, son of the god of sleep Hypnos?" She asked nervously.

The fish didn't care at all about here. It continued swimming around calmly.

"We need to talk to Morpheus." Hazel said louder this time. "We need his help with something only he can help us with. We need help to block some dreams."

That caught the fish's attention. It looked straight at Hazel, and slowly started to change shape. It became an old fisher man, standing in the same lake the fish had been in. He had no teeth and a very wrinkled face.

"Are you Morpheus?" Nico asked.

The old fisher man rolled his eyes.

"Do you want me to change shape again to show you assure you that I am him?"

His voice made Hazel sleepy, and that was quite strange since she actually was asleep already. She cleared her throat.

"Sir, we need some help." She said, took a pause to look at Leo and Nico, and then rushed on. "We heard that you and your father aren't going to pick a side in this war, so we would really appreciate if you could help us. We will pay you a fair price in return."

Morpheus raised an eyebrow.

"And what could demigods give a god?"

Leo shrugged.

"We dunno. If there is something you want, you could always give us a call or something."

Hazel silenced him with a look.

"If you ever would need help with something, we will always help you."

"As long as it is reasonable and possible." Nico added.

"Hm…" Morpheus looked uninterested. "What do you need my help with?"

"There are these goddesses." Hazel started. "They are trying to toy with our minds, confuse us in our dreams. You are the dream god, could you please give us something that can block the nightmares?"

The god chuckled.

"That's none of my business."

"Actually, it is." Leo bent down next to Hazel with a very rare, serious look on his face. "Listen here, fisher hubby. We need your help, and if you don't help us, Gaea will destroy the whole freaking world. You won't get anything out of it, because you haven't picked any side. She will find some way to kill you, or trap you, or anything, but she won't show any mercy just because you didn't pick the gods' side, which by the way is the reasonable thing to do. As long as you're not at her side, you're a useless idiot to her. So help us out, because I'm sick and tired of this crap. Every night I'm dreaming the same stupid dream, and it is equally terrifying every time, and if you won't stop it we will all go insane and _if_ the gods win actually win without us, you'll get the blame for making their kids go crazy. If you help us and then pick Gaea's side, you will be considered a loser again, just like in the Titan War last summer, because we _are_ going to win. So I believe you don't have any choice."

Hazel and Nico were staring at Leo in disbelief. He didn't look nervous or flustered at all, he was staring pointedly at Morpheus through the Iris-Message.

Morpheus wasn't even looking in Leo's direction. He was wading through the water, like it wasn't unusual to have a demigod yell at him.

"I can't pick a side." He said in an amused voice.

"What?" Nico asked.

"I swore upon the river Styx that I wouldn't pick a side. My dad made me after what happened in the second Titan War. I was humiliated for picking the losing side, while my dad didn't have to get involved in the war at all. He told me that being neutral was the best, because everyone will leave you alone. So we made an oath that we both wouldn't pick any side at all in this war. You don't need to worry about me picking Gaea's side."

Hazel blinked.

"So will you help us or not?"

Morpheus scratched his beard.

"I guess. You have to return the favor later."

"How do we know you won't trick us?" Nico asked suspiciously.

The fisher man laughed.

"I see you're not that stupid, demigod." He said. "I swear upon the river Styx that I'll help you with this favor, if you return it when I need it."

The sky rumbled, even if it was clear and blue.

Nico nodded, satisfied.

"I'll cast a spell on your ship. As soon as you wake up, it will start to work. Good luck, demigods."

"Thank you, lord Morpheus." Hazel said.

Leo swept his hand through the Iris-Message and the dim image of the dream god disappeared.

"Guess we have to wake up then." He said. Hazel knew that he was relieved that he wouldn't need to dream of his mother anymore, even if he acted like it was nothing.

"How do we do that? And how long have we been asleep?" Hazel asked with a frown.

"We just have to concentrate on trying to wake up." Nico said. "And I don't know for how long…"

Hazel nodded. She concentrated on waking up, slowly raising her head from the table and rubbing her eyes…

Suddenly the dream was over. She sat up and turned around to see that the boys were waking up to.

"What happened?" Jason immediately asked Nico and Leo. "Did you find him?"

Leo grinned.

"Yeah, we did. Hazel helped us."

Everybody stared at Hazel.

"What? How?" Piper asked.

They told them the story as quick as they could.

"How long have we been asleep?" Nico asked.

"2 hours." Piper confirmed.

"That means we have 3 hours before we reach Greece." Leo said. "I have to go and check that everything is okay with Festus."

"I'll come with you." Hazel said quickly and rose from her seat.

A shadow of a smile went over Leo's face, but then disappeared. He was staring at something behind Hazel with horrified eyes, so she turned to see what it was.

"Well, hello there, sweeties."

The ghost of Hazel's mother was floating over the table.

**_Wohoo, the war is near! Just kidding. I want to warn you that I'm not good at writing about fights, so please don't judge me too hard about that, I'll try my best ;) Hope you liked this chapter! Reviews are very appreciated! _**


	31. Chapter 31

**_OMG YOU ARE THE BEST. I love you, seriously. Your reviews made my week :)_**

**Chapter 31 – Never Alone**

**_LEO_**

"Mom?" Hazel, Nico, Frank and Jason asked in unison.

That was when Leo realized it wasn't the ghost of his mother that was floating above the table.

"Melinoe." He said instead, rage rushing through his body.

The woman tilted her head and looked at Leo. She still looked exactly like his mother, but her eyes were cold and she wore a creepy smile his mother would never want, or be able to, pull off.

"_Mijo_, it's me." Melinoe said. "It's your mother."

"Oh, yeah?" Leo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure. You're my mother. That's why four of all people in this room call you mom. Last time I checked, I wasn't related to all of them."

Coach Hedge and Piper, who saw Melinoe for who she really was, were too stunned to say anything. But slowly, Piper opened her mouth.

"Leo?" Her voice was trembling. "What is happening?"

"Let me introduce you to my dear friend Melinoe, goddess of ghosts. Her favorite hobbies are too pretend being others mothers and make people go insane." Leo said grimly.

He was surprised over how calm he felt. Well, maybe not _calm_, but he wasn't scared. He was angry.

"M-Mom?" Hazel stammered, a little less confident now.

Melinoe turned to her and smiled. For Leo, she still looked like _his _mother, but apparently Hazel saw her own.

"Hi, Hazel." Her voice was soft as silk, but Leo could hear the danger and creepiness in it.

Jason, Frank, Nico and Hazel's eyes were dim. They were staring at Melinoe with open mouths. Piper looked at each one of them, her eyes filled with worry. Then she looked at Leo, asking a silent question: _What are we gonna do?_

The most surprising thing was that Coach Hedge hadn't said a word. His eyes were glassy.

"Oh, that one?" Melinoe asked when she noticed Leo looking. "He's under a spell. I was quite sure that he would attack me at first sight, so I froze him. I'm just here to talk."

Piper looked slightly less stunned. She stared at Melinoe and asked:

"What do you mean with 'talk'?" She asked warily.

"I wanted to tell you that our plan is changed. We're not going to make you insane."

"Sure. Your plan to defeat us has changed, and the first ones you tell are us?" Leo asked with a sarcastic grin. "We believe in every word you say."

"She's actually telling the truth." A familiar, icy voice said behind them.

Leo turned to see Khione. Unfortunately, there wasn't a trace of burning marks on her face.

"Oh my god, how many times do I have to defeat you to make you understand that you're not welcome here?" He sighed.

Khione glared at him.

"You will never defeat me."

"Oh, yeah? What about yesterday?"

"I'll kill you with a flick of my finger if you-"

"Stop it!" Melinoe cut them off, actually looking annoyed. "We have a new plan. We just wanted to tell you that we won't stop you from defeating Gaea anymore. Peace?"

"What in Hades are you two talking about?!" Piper said. She looked like she wanted to laugh. "_Peace_?! Are you crazy?!"

"We're not crazy, McLean." Khione said angrily. "You think you're so good, knowing how to charmspeak, but-"

"Charmspeak." Leo's eyes widened and he stared at Piper.

She understood.

"Tell us what your new plan is." She said, but there wasn't any charmspeak in her voice.

"Do you think we're that stupid?" Melinoe asked, amused. "Come on. Don't underestimate us. We've made a barrier that prevents you from using your little talent."

Piper closed her eyes and concentrated.

"_Tell us what your new plan is._"

It was a weird rush through the ship; Leo could feel the floor vibrate for a second. Piper's charmspeak had burst through the barrier.

"We'll stop underestimate you if you stop underestimate _us_." Leo said and grinned.

The goddesses opened their mouths at the same time.

"We will use you to defeat Gaea for us. Then, after the war, you will be fragile. We will turn the gods against each other, letting them tear each other apart. In this chaos, we will rise and take over." They said in unison with hollow voices.

It was ridiculous, and Leo didn't think it would work. But Piper's wide eyes and pale face told him otherwise.

"If we defeat Gaea, they will win." She said. "If we don't, Gaea will tear the world apart. And turning the gods to each other has worked before, right? If this works, we're screwed, Leo."

Khione and Melinoe was blinking, looking confused.

"Where was I? Right, we have a new plan." Melinoe said.

"Let Coach Hedge go, and stop look like our friends' moms." Piper growled. The goddesses froze.

Hazel blinked.

"What happened?"

Nico, Jason and Frank looked really confused.

Suddenly, Coach Hedge rose from his feet and started to yell:

"I'm gonna make you regret ever coming here, we're on an important quest and you-"

"Coach."

Coach Hedge turned and stared at Leo.

"Stop screaming." He said.

"Leave our ship." Piper ordered Khione and Melinoe. "And don't _ever _come back."

They nodded and vanished.

"What the heck was that?!" Jason asked.

Piper ran to him and hugged him.

"Great job, Pipes." Leo said and grinned toward her. "We have a few hours before we reach Greece, and unfortunately a new problem to discuss too."

* * *

Leo held Hazel's hand under the table. She was trembling and her face was pale, but her eyes glowed with anger and fighting spirit.

"I hate her." Jason muttered. "I can't believe I fell for her trick. I don't even _remembe_r my mom, and I fell for it."

"It's okay." Piper calmed him down. "It's not your fault."

"It felt-It felt so real." Frank stammered. "I actually thought it was her. I-"

"Calm down, guys." Nico said. He was the only one who wasn't shaken up. "You can't blame yourself. It's the power of Melinoe to make you see the ghosts of your long lost loves. I've met her before, when I was with Percy and Thalia-"

Jason sat up.

"My sister saw mom too?"

"It doesn't matter. You have to forget about that and focus on how we're going to defeat Khione and Melinoe."

Hazel turned and faced Leo.

"You've been dreaming of her? She has done this to you every night lately?"

Everybody turned to stare at him.

"It-It wasn't that terrible-" Leo lied. "It's-I-"

Hazel squeezed his hand.

"I have to go to the bathroom." He muttered and rose to his feet. He let go of Hazel's hand and walked away.

Leo didn't really know why it upset him so much, but he didn't want the others to know about his dreams. He didn't want their pity, he didn't want them to know how much his mother's death still hurt, and he didn't want them to realize how fragile he actually was.

He walked to his cabin and leaned to the wall. He closed his eyes.

Like so many times before, her death flashed by. He remembered the paralyzing fear he felt when Gaea had appeared, he remembered how desperate he felt when he made his hand catch fire. Leo remembered how his heart had sank when the flames had surrounded him, licked the warehouse's walls. He had known as soon as he lit his finger that it was going to end badly. The worst thing was that he could remember exactly how he had fallen to the floor, crying and screaming his mother's name, and then how she suddenly was kneeling in front of him. It maybe just had been his imagination, but Leo remembered her stroking his face and smiling sadly. And when he tried to hug her but she had disappeared, he had known that it was the last time he would ever see her and it was entirely his fault.

Leo literally felt like he was on fire inside. And inside, he wasn't immune to fire. It hurt, it boiled and it made him want to scream. The flames of guilt licked his heart.

"Leo."

Hazel was standing in the doorway, her eyes filled with pain and worry and all the things that Leo missed that someone would feel for him since his mother had died.

Without a word, she walked to him and wrapped her arms around him. She held him tight, and for once Leo let all his pain out. He cried as much as he had done in the fire, he let every painful memory drain out of him with the tears. Hazel didn't say a word, she just hugged him. She didn't move, just held him, let him wet down her shoulder.

Leo was shaking violently. He couldn't see for all the tears. He held on to Hazel like she was the only thing that kept him from drowning in his own pain.

"I'm here." She murmured in his ear. "It's okay, I'm here. You're not alone."

Leo couldn't say a thing. He just hugged Hazel tight.

Slowly, he felt how he stopped crying. All his energy had flowed out from him with the tears. Hazel led him to the bed and sat down on it with him.

She didn't say anything. She just sat there, her shoulder pressed to his.

"It hurts." Leo croaked at last. "It hurts so much."

"I know it does." Hazel said. "I know how it feels. But I'm not going to let you feel that way. Leo, it wasn't your fault. You have to stop believe that it was."

Leo didn't say anything.

"You're never alone." She whispered. "I'm here. I will always be."

He felt a rush go through his body. He looked in to her golden eyes. He had never been so grateful for anything than for Hazel, he couldn't wrap his mind around that she actually loved him like he loved her.

Leo kissed her, soft and sweet. When they pulled away, Hazel was smiling.

"You have to get some sleep now. You won't dream any nightmares. I'll wake you up in an hour."

"Thank you." He said. "I-"

She hushed him, pushed him down on the bed and wrapped the bed sheets around him. Leo felt surprisingly tired, and the last thing he saw before he fell asleep was his girlfriend's golden eyes and beautiful smile.

**_Emotional chapter. I cried a little while I wrote it, hehe XD Anyway, hope you like it! _**


	32. Chapter 32

**_Hello guys!  
Thanks for all the reviews, and… Well, that's actually all I have to say. Enjoy the chapter!_**

**Chapter 32 – The arrive**

**_HAZEL_**

Hazel didn't keep track of time.

She had sat on the edge of Leo's bed, looking at his adorable sleeping face for maybe an hour. She twisted his black curls, ran her fingers through his hair and just listened to his heavy breathing. Hazel was happy that he got to sleep without nightmares for once, but she felt like she really needed to talk to him too. This thing about his mother's death… It kept haunting him. Sure, Hazel had sometimes thought that she was the cause of her mother's death, but Leo _really _blamed himself for everything that happened. He couldn't stop thinking of it, he couldn't stop waiting for her ghost to come and blame him. Hazel was supposed to be his girlfriend (well, secret girlfriend), she was supposed to make him feel good and be happy. But she felt that she was losing her grip around Leo, slowly letting him drown in the darkness of his guilt and pain.

"You should come now, we will be in Greece in half an hour."

Piper was standing in the doorway. She didn't ask why Hazel was in Leo's cabin, which Hazel was really grateful for. She had a feeling that Piper had knew about them all the time.

"We'll be there in a minute."

Piper nodded. She shot a look at Leo and then said:

"You're a cute couple."

A smile flashed over Hazel's face. Piper smiled back and then left.

Hazel shook Leo's shoulders. He groaned and moved, but he didn't open his eyes.

"Leo, come on. We're half an hour away from Greece. You need to wake up."

After a few minutes, Leo opened his eyes. He grinned when he saw Hazel.

"Good morning, Ms. Metal Detector."

Hazel rolled her eyes and rose from the bed. Leo sat up and rubbed his eyes, and then looked at Hazel again.

"Let's go and kick some giants' asses, right?"

She gave him a weak smile.

"That wasn't what you wanted to do a few hours ago."

Leo looked troubled.

"I'm sorry for weeping like that. It isn't something I do often, believe me. I-" But before he could finish, Hazel cut him off with a kiss.

"Come on." She said. "Let's go and fight some giants."

* * *

The others were standing on deck, ready. Piper had Katopris in her hand, Jason was standing next to her with his _gladius_, Frank had his bow raised, Nico was holding his black sword and Coach Hedge had his baseball bat slung over his right shoulder. The satyr was the only one who looked happy.

As soon as Leo and Hazel came there, Frank shot them a look. But before Hazel could make out if he was angry or anything, he turned away.

"Are you guys ready?" Jason asked.

"Do we have a plan?" Hazel asked uncertainly and drew her _spartha_.

"We don't split up. Nico leads us to the House of Hades, we save Percy and Annabeth and then close the Doors of Death." Frank said.

"And then we fight." Jason had a grim expression, but his knuckles were white and his face was pale. "Hopefully, we will be stronger with Percy and Annabeth on our side."

"Hopefully." Nico repeated. "There's a huge risk that they are too weak to fight. You saw how weak I was after being in Tartarus. And, we don't even know if they have survived."

A thick silence followed Nico's dark words. Hazel wished he hadn't said anything.

Coach Hedge snorted.

"Don't be so boring, cupcakes. We fight, we find Percy and Annabeth, we close the Doors, we fight more. As simple as that."

Piper nodded.

"Coach Hedge is right. Let's just concentrate on what we're gonna do right now. In ten minutes, we'll have to land. Leo?"

"On it." Leo rushed to the helm and started to steer.

"Nico, you have to show us the way to the House of Hades. You know the way, right?"

Nico nodded grimly. Hazel realized that even he was scared; his face was paler than usual and his grip of his sword was very tight. She walked to him and put a hand on his shoulder, though she didn't really know if he would appreciate it.

He actually gave Hazel a grateful look. She smiled a little and then turned her gaze to the city under the flying ship. It wasn't pretty.

Giants and all kinds of monsters were destroying the city. You could hear the growling and screaming. Mortals were running in terror, screaming and staring at the ugly creatures that were stomping around. Hazel didn't know how much the mortals saw through the mist, but they definitely knew something was wrong.

She realized she was shaking. Small pieces of metal that was lying here and there on the ship, pieces of some of Leo's inventions that had gone wrong, started to move toward Hazel. And she wasn't the only one who was scared; Piper became paler for every second and Frank looked like he was going to faint. Nico's knuckles were white, and he had to take a new grip around the black swordpretty often because of his sweaty palms. Small bolts of lightning flashed around Jason. Leo was furiously tapping the buttons and pulling the levers on the helm.

"C'mon, cupcakes, don't look so scared! This is gonna be awesome!" Coach Hedge grinned like a crazy goat. He wasn't looking scared or frightened at all.

Hazel swallowed.

"Yeah, coach. Of course." Jason muttered.

"Brace yourselves, we're landing!" Leo warned.

The ship tipped a little, and Hazel could feel how it slowed down. The city was coming closer and closer. Festus breathed fire.

"Is this Athens?" Hazel asked Nico.

"Yeah." Nico's eyes were dark. "Let's see how long it will last."

Hazel felt her throat closing up.

Then, the ship hit the ground. They landed in a forest, and some of the trees got crushed under the ship. It was pretty close to the city, Hazel suspected, since she could still hear the screaming and other sounds of fight very clear.

"What are we gonna do with Athena Parthenos?" Leo suddenly asked when they walked out from the ship. "Maybe it could help us fight, but it's impossible to carry it with us."

Hazel hadn't thought of that, and judging by the expressions of the others, she was pretty sure no one had.

"Can't we just leave it here, in the _Argo II_?" Jason asked. "Festus will guard the ship while we fight. If we'll need the statue, we can just try and lead the enemies here or something."

Leo shrugged.

"We don't have a better plan, do we?"

Coach Hedge looked incredibly happy.

"Fresh grass, a lot of fighting… This place is amazing!"

He trotted toward the sound of the growling monsters and screaming people, and the demigods had no choice but follow him.

**_I know it was a really short chapter, but next one will be better and longer :) Please review! _**


	33. Chapter 33

**_You're incredible! I hope you know how happy it makes me to see your amazing reviews :) It's the only thing that keeps me going, haha ;)  
I want to tell you that I'm sorry if I can't describe all monsters in detail, or the fighting, because I don't really know much about these ancient monsters at all. I will do some research about the giants later, but right now, this is the best I can do. And I will go through the PJO/HoO-books, see how Riordan describes the fighting so well, and try to do the same :) Hope you're okay with that._**

**_ENJOY!_**

**Chapter 33 – They're waiting**

**_LEO_**

The sound of fighting ringed in Leo's ears as he followed the other demigods through the forest, toward the city. He felt sick to his stomach.

What if they lost? What if they couldn't save Percy and Annabeth? What if they would all die?

Leo realized that the fate of the world depended on them. If he and a bunch of other demigods failed, it would result in that the world would go back to the chaos before the gods ruled it. Millions of lives would end if they didn't get Gaea back to sleep.

He really started to freak out.

Suddenly, he felt a hand clasp his own. Leo looked up to see Hazel, her face filled with the same pain and fear he felt inside.

Leo glanced over at the other demigods. Piper and Jason were walking next to each other, Piper desperately clinging on to Jason's arm. Nico's eyes were darker than usual, and he pulled out something from his pocket; a small toy that looked like a statue of some god. Leo was surprised over the tears he saw filling Nico's eyes when he looked at the statue. Frank's knuckles were as white as milk, his grip around the bow so tight that Leo was worried that it would break. Even Coach Hedge looked slightly angry, or maybe even scared.

With a warm feeling in his belly, it struck Leo that these people were his _friends_. A year ago, he had been on the run from another foster home, eating food he found in garbage cans to survive. He had been miserable, thinking that he never would find a real home. And now, he was on a quest to save the world with people that had went through just as horrible things as him; outcasts that finally had found a place they could call home and people they could call friends and family. Hazel was right; he wasn't alone. These people would do anything for him, and Leo would do the same for them.

He glanced at Hazel, whose hand still had a tight grip around his own, and made up his mind. Leo was going to stay strong. He had come this far, and he wasn't going to give up now. His friends needed him; he had to stay strong for their sake. For Hazel's sake.

Leo straightened and squeezed Hazel's hand. When she raised her head, he smiled encouraging toward her. For a second, her eyes lit up, but then an especially loud scream from the city made her face change from hopeful to painful.

Slowly, Leo made his free hand catch fire. Pins and needles tickled under his skin. Small, orange flames licked his fingers, danced in his palm. He had always thought of his fire-powers as a curse, something that caused his mother's death. And sure, it was a curse, but right now it was a gift. It was a gift from his dad, a power that only he had, something he could control and use toward enemies. Flames that could kill _and _save.

"The prophecy will come true now." Piper suddenly said hoarsely. "Seven half-blood's shall answer the call-"

"To storm or fire the world must fall-" Jason said grimly.

"An oath to keep with a final breath-" Frank grumbled.

"And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death." Nico finished. "Yeah, it will."

Hazel's shoulders slumped.

"Do we even have a chance?" She asked. "I mean, if we win, we have Khione and Melinoe to beat too. Right now, it seems like whatever we do, it will end badly."

Leo hated to see her like this. Vulnerable, scared, thinking that it was hopeless. But it just made him even surer of that they had to do this.

"It doesn't matter." Leo said loudly. "We have to try. If we die, well, then we died doing the honorable thing. If we don't try, we will die anyway, right? There is a chance that we will win this war. And even if it _will_ end with us dead and chaos in the world and the Western Civilization collapsing, we'll die knowing that we tried. We'll just have to hope that we get in to Elysium for that; I heard the Fields of Punishment doesn't throw as good parties."

He realized he had held his breath under the whole speech, so he started to cough. Very heroic.

The others were just staring at him, which made it even more awkward.

"Leo is right." Jason broke the silence. His expression had changed from grim to determined, his eyes filled with fighting spirit. "This is our chance to do the right thing. If we die, we die, but if we success we will save the world."

Piper smiled at Leo to show that she agreed. Frank nodded, but his eyes were on Leo and Hazel's hands, which made Leo feel a little uncomfortable. Nico put the small statue in his pocket again and took a new grip around his sword, looking ready to fight. Coach Hedge grinned.

Leo squeezed Hazel's hand nervously, not knowing how she would react. Then, suddenly, her arms were wrapped around him in a tight hug. He was afraid she had started to cry, but she was smiling.

"Elysium, here we come." Hazel said with a huge, very cute smile.

Jason smiled and Piper hugged his arm. Frank raised his bow, looking a little miffed (Leo wasn't sure if he had realized that Hazel and Leo was a couple, but he didn't care that much). Coach Hedge swung his baseball bat, so Nico was forced to jump out of his way, but they were both smiling.

Leo grinned and pulled out a big hammer from his toolbelt, raised it to the sky and said:

"Elysium, here we come!"

The others did the same. For a second, the battle-cry echoed in the forest, but then it drenched in the sound of more screaming mortals.

* * *

When they finally reached the edge of the forest, all courage and bravery drained out of Leo.

The city was in ruins. Roofs and other parts of the houses had been ripped off by the monsters. Half the city was on flames. Mortals were running around in terror, screaming and crying desperately for help. Leo didn't even dare to look at the dead bodies that were lying everywhere, covered in blood.

Hazel gasped and tightened the grip around Leo's hand.

The worst, though, was the monsters. Leo didn't know much about different mythological creatures, but he knew these weren't normal (not that monsters ever had been normal, but you understand). These were _ancient_, and thousands times scarier than those Leo ever faced.

There were huge drakons that made people fall down dead with just a look with those paralyzing eyes. Chimaeras that were about twice as big as usual were crushing bodies under their enormous feet. Those were the only monsters Leo recognized.

"What was the plan again?" Hazel gulped, trying to sound stronger than she looked, but no one even cared. Everybody's eyes were glued on the scene in front of them.

"Find the House of Hades, free Percy and Annabeth, fight giants, go home." Piper said weakly.

"And kill some more monsters!" Coach Hedge grinned like a madman.

"That's about it." Nico agreed. Though even he was looking a little paler than usual, he was the only one who managed to get his eyes off the city. "We gotta hurry."

"Do we even now _when _Gaea is going to wake the giants up and stuff?" Leo asked. "Like, what time?"

Nico shrugged helplessly.

"Will it be like with the twin giants?" Frank asked with a shaky voice. "Will we need gods on our side? And how will it even happen?"

Everybody turned to stare at Jason and Piper. They were the only ones, besides Percy, who had been there (even if Piper hadn't fought).

"I don't know." Jason said slowly. "Percy and I were on the verge of breaking down when Bacchus came. And he didn't even help at first; he just sat there and watched us. It made us quite angry. I think that anger was what made us keep fighting, and when we had proven us worthy the god's help, he joined us."

No one said anything. The silence between them was thick. Not thick enough to make anyone forget about the sound of screaming, growling and crashing from the city, but thick enough to make _Coach Hedge_ understand that it wasn't the time to speak or swing his bat.

"C'mon." Nico said at last. "We… They're waiting."

He didn't say "we have to find the House of Hades" or "we have to save Annabeth and Percy"; he didn't even say their names, because it was just hopeless. Everybody knew that they had to find the House of Hades and save them, anyways. But Nico saying "they're waiting" was something they didn't know, something they weren't sure of, something that gave them all hope and doubt which both just made them more determined to try.

Leo turned to flash Nico a grin, and noticed again that the pale boy had his hand in his pocket, probably gripping something. Leo remembered the small statue that obviously meant much for Mr. Death Kid. Leo couldn't deny he was a little surprised.

He would probably dwell more on it, if it wasn't for the huge roar that told them all that a monster had noticed them.

"RUN!" Jason yelled, and the group scattered just as the monster (which Leo seriously didn't know what it was) shot a column of hot, white fire at them.

Leo had a small flame dancing on the sleeve of his shirt, but it didn't matter. The spot where the group had stood on a few seconds ago was on fire, and everybody had run in different directions. Leo looked desperately around him to see where the others had gone, until he heard Piper's voice behind him scream:

"LEO, LOOK OUT!"

He was just going to say that fire couldn't hurt him when a big _thing _(that he later realized was the monster's tail) swished by him and missed by a few centimeters. Leo gulped.

He turned and ran to Piper, who seemed to be the only one who had run to the same direction as him. The fire spread, and soon some of the trees on the edge of the forest were on fire too. Leo could hear the shrill screams from the dryads as their homes burned.

"Where are they?! Are they hurt?!" Leo asked Piper, trying to see over the high flames that blocked his view of the other side. _Where was Hazel?!_

"You can run through and check?" Piper suggested half-heartedly.

Leo snorted.

"And leave you alone, Beauty Queen? No way. You would probably just attract more monsters, and when you tell them you're not single, they will try to kill you, Jason and the rest of us too."

Piper's cheeks flushed with red.

"Stop it, Leo! We have to find them." She added worriedly. "What if Jason is hurt?"

The monster roared again.

"What if _anyone _is hurt?"

"You know what I mean." Piper said and stomped her foot impatiently. "How are we going to kill the fire?"

Leo stared helplessly at the flames, when an idea struck him.

"Do you think you could charmspeak the fire?" He asked Piper slowly.

She looked at him like he had gone crazy, but before she got the chance to speak they got interrupted by a big monster-paw-hand-_thing _with huge claws that was aiming right for them. They barely survived this time, and the monster actually cut Leo's shirt.

"Are you okay?!"

"Yeah." Leo stammered and stared down at the big cut in his shirt. Thankfully, the claw hadn't rasped his skin. Who knew how poisonous that thing could be.

"And what do you mean with 'charmspeak the fire'?!" Piper asked, her voice almost drowning in the sound of the fighting around them. Apparently, the rest of the demigods and the satyr on the other side of the fire were putting up a fight with the monster, because it had completely forgotten about Piper and Leo now. "That's ridiculous!"

"We live in a world of monsters, gods and ghosts. We're on a quest to close some doors to save the world. My idea isn't ridiculous at all." Leo snorted. "By the way, you have charmspoken the earth, remember? This is exactly the same... I think."

Piper glared at him, and Leo suddenly remembered all those times back at Wilderness School when he had sneaked in to her dorm and copied her essays. She would always find out anyway, and then all he could expect as a thank you for telling the teacher that it had to have been someone else than Piper who copied Leo's essay, forged her signature and put it in her bag so she would give it to the teacher and look bad was that glare and _a lot_ of yelling. Good times.

"Leo, that was different! It was life and death and…"

Her voice trailed off, and Leo grinned triumphantly. She apparently realized that this was life and death too¨.

"Well, I'm just gonna stand here and watch as you sing the fire a lullaby. Do something good."

Piper glared at him again, and if she hadn't known that Leo was right, he was pretty sure she would have killed him right on the spot. Or maybe she would do it anyway. Slowly, Leo backed away from his friend a little.

She rolled her eyes.

"Fine." She snapped. "Don't _you _dare to drift off; I will need your help. Maybe you could try to control the fire or something."

Leo got another brilliant idea.

"Hold on a sec." He reached down to his toolbelt and pulled out a pair of big, bright yellow earplugs that looked like headphones (you know, those you use when you're working with those really loud machines). He put them on, ignoring Piper's big eyeroll, and gave her thumbs up.

Leo couldn't hear what Piper said and he didn't really care; he had his eyes focused on the flames. How the heck was he going to control them?! He could barely control the flames he summoned himself. Leo hadn't a clue on what to do.

"Okay, then." He muttered to himself, even though he couldn't hear his own voice. Weird. "Er, hi flames. I'm Leo. I kinda need you to stop…er… burn. Or something. If you could just let me and Piper over to the other side so we can help our friends. We have an important quest that we have to finish."

Leo had never felt that ridiculous or lame in his whole life. He was talking to a _fire. _

But, believe it or not, the flames died a little. Not much, but you could definitely see the change. Leo didn't know if it was his small-talk or Piper's powerful charmspeak that had calmed the fire down, though.

"Yeah, exactly like that!" Leo complimented the fire, deciding that _if _it had been his talking, there was no reason to stop. "A little more, please. I'll promise that you get to burn as soon as Piper and I are on the other side with our friends again."

Gods, Leo really hoped no one could see him right now. He glanced over at Piper, but she wasn't paying him any attention; she wore a super-concentrated look on her face and her eyes were staring directly at the bright, orange flames. Sweat pearls were running down her face, but Leo wasn't sure if it was because of the heat of the fire (that he didn't feel) or concentration (which he didn't feel either).

"Sorry. I lost focus." He apologized to the fire, thinking; _I just apologized to a fire. I should be disqualified from this quest because of complete madness. _ "Uh, where were we? Right. Please calm down. I know this is pretty awkward, a total stranger telling you what to do. Fire is kinda… Independent. But I know quite a lot about it, I can summon fire, actually. I know you want to stop burning, but just for a moment? I guess you flames maybe have some rules or rights and stuff – Okay, that's it."

Leo turned to Piper, took off his earplugs and said:

"I'm speaking about the rights for flames to burn. I'm going insane over here. Please hurry up."

Piper scowled.

"It's calming a little, but not enough to let us go through."

"And we can't go, you know, around it?"

She pretended to think.

"Hm, on the right side we have an enormous monster that wants to eat us for breakfast. On the left side, we have a forest that's burning and probably some very angry dryads too. Can we go around the fire?"

Leo got the sarcasm, but still looked desperately around. The monster was still busy fighting with the others. Piper was probably right. The dryads would blame them and maybe chase after them, and Leo had far too much experience of crazy nymphs chasing him to know that it wasn't anything he wanted to go through again.

The worst thing, though, was that he knew that this maybe wasn't going to kill them. This was something that just would slow them down.

_They're waiting._

"Come here." Leo said suddenly. Piper walked closer to him, confused.

"What-"

Leo wrapped one arm around her and held her close.

"Leo…?"

"Be ready to run at three, okay?!" Leo said seriously.

Piper's eyes widened when she understood what Leo wanted them to do. She started to shake her head and try to sneak out of his grip.

"No, no, no, no, _no. _I'm _not _going to run through the fire. I'm not fire-immune like you! I'll die!"

"One…"

"Leo, I told you-"

"Two…"

"We're _not_ doing this, Leo!"

"THREE!"

Ignoring Piper's protests, Leo took a harder grip around her (not really knowing what he was doing) and ran straight toward the wall of fire in front of them.

**_Now, please don't kill me. I didn't want to make it a cliffhanger, but the chapter would get so long if I didn't finish XD Hope you liked it anyway! I gotta say I'm happy with Leo in this chapter, he was a little goofy and happy again (or maybe I just made him weird and OOC, sorry if that's the case)._**

**_Review! _**


	34. Chapter 34

**_Hello!_**

**_So, now I've tried to write some real fight-scenes. Hope you'll be satisfied!_**

**Chapter 34 – Helicopter**

**_HAZEL_**

Hazel was so busy, she barely noticed her boyfriend coming straight form the fire with an arm wrapped around Piper.

The ugly monster had decided to stick its head in between the demigods, and now there was a big fight going on. Coach Hedge had been swinging his baseball bat at the monster's nose, which had made it roar and breathe even more fire, until it slashed a foot and effectively made the satyr stop (well, you can't fight if you're knocked out).

Jason left the fight and ran to Piper's side (_very roman, just drop out from a fight_, Hazel thought and rolled her eyes), leaving Frank, Nico and Hazel to fight the monster alone.

Piper and Leo recovered pretty fast, though. Piper still looked startled over the fact that she hadn't gotten burn (Hazel didn't really know how that was possible either, but she hadn't time to think about it), but Leo ran to Hazel and the others.

"Howdy, partner." Leo greeted and grinned, which made Hazel lose concentration for a second.

A monster-hand came flying. Hazel jumped and raised her _spartha_. A moment later, she was lying on the hand with the _spartha _deeply dug in the skin of the monster. The monster roared with pain and desperately tried to shake Hazel and her weapon off, which was exactly what Hazel had hoped for. Just as the monster raised his hand to its head, she pulled out the _spartha _and threw it at the monster neck.

"FRANK!" Hazel yelled, just as the monster rose to its feet and roared in pain again. Frank got the message and shot a bunch of arrows right in the chest of it.

With a confused, pained growl, the monster exploded to yellow dust. Hazel fell down to the ground hard on her side.

A sharp pain shot up her arm, and Hazel immediately knew something was wrong. The pain almost blinded her, and her head started to spin.

"Ouch." Was the only thing she managed.

"Hazel!"

Leo ran to her side with the other close behind him. Black spots danced for Hazel's eyes, making their faces look blurry, but she could imagine Leo's frown and eyes full of worry.

"Are you okay?" Nico's voice asked somewhere above Hazel.

"Oh gods." Piper said, and Hazel took it as she had seen her arm. "Oh, Hazel."

"Is it that bad?" Hazel groaned and tried to sit up, just to feel a wave of nausea and pain wash over her and immediately make her fall down again.

"Ambrosia!" Leo suddenly said and snapped his finger. "Anyone has any ambrosia?"

Frank grumbled something and Hazel saw him pull out a few squares of the godly food from a Ziploc bag. He handed them to Leo, who fed her. The pain slowly faded a little and Hazel could see clearer.

"Better?" Leo asked worriedly.

"Yeah." Hazel mumbled. "Yes. Just help me get up, and I'll be fine…"

With a little help, Hazel got up on her feet. Her arm still hurt, sharp bolts of pain shooting through it every now and then, but it felt much better.

Hazel smiled weakly to the others.

After waking Coach Hedge up (it took quite a long time), they continued their journey through the city, following Nico. Leo had an arm around Hazel's waist, ignoring the looks Frank shot them.

Coach Hedge seemed a little ashamed of being unconscious while the other fought the monster, but perked up when he joined Leo, Piper, Hazel and Jason's conversation.

"How is it that you're not burned after running through that fire?" Jason asked and frowned.

Piper looked confused.

"I don't know." She admitted. "Leo just grabbed me and dragged me through the flames. I didn't feel anything; I just saw the fire all around me. A second later, it was over."

They both looked at Leo for answers, but he looked just as puzzled as them.

"I-I don't know either. My fire-immunity protected you too, in some way." Leo looked surprised. "If I can do that by just touching someone, it would make things a whole lot easier if we somehow have to fight in fire."

Coach Hedge snorted.

"You did it unconsciously, right? Then you don't know how to control it yet. Just don't get your hopes up, cupcakes."

Hazel could feel how Leo stiffened. His face fell, so she quickly added:

"But it maybe will help anyway? We'll find a way to control it. It's would be really good if we would all be immune to fire."

She glanced at Leo's face, but he had masked whatever he had been feeling a moment ago. He was biting his lip, his eyes dangerously dark, which made Hazel question if she had made it better or worse.

She leaned in and whispered in his ear:

"What's wrong, Leo?"

Leo opened his mouth, but then stopped and smiled half-heartedly toward her.

"Nothing. Just… Realized something."

He didn't seem to be lying, but not telling her the whole truth either. Hazel decided to not push him, so she dropped it.

You could think the monsters would lay off the demigods (and the satyr), since they were probably walking toward their deaths anyway, but _no_. After half an hour minutes of running, walking, dodging attacks and hiding behind ruins that once had been houses and successfully avoiding fighting, some stupid monsters decided that the demigods would be a good meal and blocked their way.

Hazel didn't know what they were. They were ugly, big, monsters with six arms and stupid expressions on their faces.

But shadows of recognition flashed over Leo, Jason, Coach Hedge and Piper's faces.

"Gegenees…. _Again._" Piper muttered.

Leo rolled his eyes.

"Didn't we kill them already?"

"They tasted my bat once, and they shall do it again if they wish so!" Hedge grinned.

Hazel stared at Jason for an explanation.

"The Earthborn." He explained. "Ugly monsters that was born out from the Earth. Pretty fond of Gaea. My namesake fought them on his journey to find the Golden Fleece. Whatever you do, _don't mention my name._"

"Food! Demigod delicious! We hungry!"

The five Earthborn, all with stupid smirks on their faces, crept closer. Hazel took a better grip around her _spartha _and saw the other get ready for fight too.

They crashed in to fight. Nico managed to stab one of them in the chest, making it melt to a puddle of clay. Unfortunately, it started to reform a second later. Jason cut one Eartborn's arm off, making it roar angrily and attack with the five arms it had left flying (until the arm reformed too).

Hazel tried to run around them and stab one from behind, but it didn't work. The ogre spotted her before she had the chance to run around it, and stared at her _spartha._

"You kill me? You die!" It yelled and lunched forward to attack, but Hazel was faster. She dodged the attack, turned around and cut the ugly monster's head off.

The Earthborn melted, leaving clay all over Hazel's _spartha_, but before she could enjoy her triumph it reformed in front of her. While she watched, the monster grew back from the puddle of clay on the ground. But before it had the chance to attack, she stabbed it in the chest, and it melted again.

They couldn't go on like this. They wouldn't be able to hold the monsters down forever; they would always reform. She shot a desperate look over her shoulder to see how the others were doing, and they didn't seem to have much luck either.

Coach Hedge was running around and hitting the ogres in random places, making them very annoyed. Jason was trying to hold two back at once, Frank trying to help him by shooting arrows as soon as it threated to hurt Jason. Piper and Nico was battling an Earthborn together, taking turns stabbing it as soon as it tried to reform. The remaining ogre was making its way toward Leo.

Hazel saw in the corner of her eye how Leo pulled out a few things form his toolbelt and started working with them. He mouthed "_distract them" _to Hazel, so she obeyed.

"I'm Jason!" Hazel said in sheer desperation, remembering Jason's warning about telling the Earthborn his name.

Jason turned to glare at Hazel, but she paid more attention to all the ogres that slowly turned and stared at her.

"You Yay-son?" One of them asked, slightly confused. "You not look like Yay-son."

"Yes, I am Jason. I… I changed my looks." Hazel said helplessly. "I'm still Jason."

The Earthborns expressions turned from confused to angry.

"You Yay-son? Kill Yay-son!"

Just as they started to make their way toward Hazel, she locked eyes with Piper. Somehow, Piper understood.

"No! Wait! She's not Jason, I am!"

The ogres turned away from Hazel and stared at Piper.

"You Yay-son?"

"No! I am!" Nico shouted and waved his hands. "I'm Jason!"

The monsters seemed very confused now. Jason (the _real _Jason), Frank and Coach Hedge joined them and started yelling that they were Jason too, and the Earthborn looked so confused that Hazel almost felt sorry for them.

Leo had stepped away from the fight and was furiously working on something that looked like a small… What did they call it?... Helicopter. Hazel had no idea about what it could do, but it didn't matter as long as it would help them defeat the stupid monsters.

The ogres started to realize that just one of them could be Jason, but they didn't know who. Hazel was pretty sure they remembered Jason and Piper from before, because they kept throwing suspicious looks at them. Luckily, no one of them had noticed Leo.

"You Yay-son!" One of them said slowly and pointed with all six arms at Jason. "Seen you before."

"No, I'm Jason." Nico insisted.

"I am too!" Coach Hedge yelled.

Suddenly, there was a small _pop_ and Leo's helicopter surred to life. He grinned and yelled:

"EVERYBODY, BACK OFF!"

They did what he said, a little surprised, and watched as the helicopter quickly flew to the sky and stopped just over the group of ogres' heads. The monsters stared at the small thing that was flying above them, and before they could react the helicopter opened a small hatch. Out from the opening, a big, golden net sprouted out and captured all ogres. It happened in the matter of seconds.

The Earthborn was slow to react. They tried hard to rip off the web (that somehow had attached to the ground so they couldn't get out), but it didn't seem to work. Now the helicopter had done its work, it fell down, right at one of the ogres head.

"Ow!" It scoffed unhappily.

"Great job, Leo." Jason said and smiled.

Piper nodded approvingly but didn't say anything. Hazel guessed they were used to Leo building things like this, but she couldn't take her eyes off the golden web.

"How is it they can't rip the web to shreds?" She asked Leo.

Leo grinned.

"Magic. No, seriously, it's some kinda' godly web. My dad, Hephaestus, captured Aphrodite cheating on him with Ares in one of these."

Nico examined the web, looking mildly impressed.

"You found this in your toolbelt?"

Leo shrugged.

"I had a little over from another project… Anyway, we gotta go."

**_Well, I know it wasn't that good. I'm kinda disappointed with myself, but anyway, I'll try to do a better job with the next chapter. I'll make it longer too ;) _**

**_And I realized that the giants were going to the "roots" of the gods, so I guess that would be the mountain Olympos, and currently the demigods are in Athens. But it'll get figured out in the next chapter! :) _**

**_For you who like Nico; it will be more about the son of Hades in coming chapters! I like him quite much, actually, and I want him to be included in the story. I'm going to what I do best to characters I like (Leo, for example): TORTURE! ;) Just kidding...?_**

**_Review!_**


	35. Chapter 35

**_I'm back, fellow demigods, with a (hopefully) good chapter! :D _**

**_And here we go! Enjoy!_**

**Chapter 35 – To someone of the Underworld's blood**

**_LEO_**

"This is Athens." Leo suddenly stated.

"You don't say?" Jason said sarcastically.

"No, this is _Athens._" Leo insisted.

"What's your point, Valdez?" Coach Hedge grumbled.

"Weren't the giants gonna destroy the _roots _of the gods? Shouldn't that be the mountain Olympos then?"

The fact hit the group hard. Only Nico didn't seem surprised (_Did that guy ever get surprised? _Leo quietly wondered).

"Yes, it is. But the House of Hades and the Doors of Death are here. We have to close them before the giants reach the mountain Olympos and fully wake up Gaea."

The silence after his word was tense. Leo hadn't thought of that. It didn't really change anything, he decided, but it still was good to know.

"Are the giants and monsters just going to… Disappear?" Hazel asked uncertainly. "If we succeed?"

"They will know that their master has been defeated, but I don't know if they'll just go back to Tartarus." Nico admitted. "The giants will, because they obey Gaea. But all these monsters just woke up because they felt that Gaea was. She didn't wake them consciously."

"So there's a chance we'll have to fight these too?!" Frank huffed.

"Hopefully not." The son of Hades said flatly, and they dropped the subject.

Leo had one arm wrapped around Hazel's waist again, their hips and shoulders pressed against each other. He tried to ignore the looks Frank shot them. Jason had glanced at them once, Piper had smiled to the knowingly, and Nico and Coach Hedge couldn't care less. Truth was, everybody was so caught up in the whole save-the-world-thing and their own problems, so they didn't really care if Leo and Hazel had started dating. Leo was grateful for that, because he wanted to feel Hazel close to him. This could be the last time he ever saw her.

Leo tried hard to not think like that, but it was true. He was not going to let _anything _hurt Hazel. He didn't care if her fate was to die; he wasn't going to let her. Hazel was the best thing that happened to Leo since… Well, in his life. She was perfect, just perfect, and there was no one that deserved to die less than her.

But what if _he _died? What if Leo got killed? It was better than Hazel dying, but he didn't want to die. He didn't want to leave her.

_But maybe you'll get to see your mother then, _a tiny voice reminded him.

And it was that too. Hazel really didn't want Leo to blame himself for her death, but it was too much to ask from him, so he had just tried to stop thinking of it instead. But this power he just discovered, that he could protect other from fire too; could it have saved his mother? If he had just somehow opened the door and got in to the room she was in…

_Stop thinking like that!_ _You have much worse things to worry about right now, _Leo scolded himself.

He nuzzled his face in Hazel's curly, cinnamon-colored hair to distract himself. It had a faint smell of strawberry, probably form the shampoo Hazel used, that Leo inhaled. He still couldn't believe someone that perfect would want him, love him, and dammit, he was going to enjoy every moment of it.

"What are we going to do about Khione and Melinoe?" Jason asked suddenly. "Their new plan might actually work."

"Yeah, I've been thinking of that." Piper said and shifted uncomfortably. Jason protectively put an arm around her shoulders. "We'll just have to close the Doors and defeat Gaea, and before they start to try turning the gods to each other we'll tell the gods their plan." She shrugged. "That's the only thing we can do."

There were some muttering, but everybody knew that it was true.

A roar nearby made Leo jump in surprise. He had been so caught up in his own thoughts, he almost forgotten about the monsters and stuff everywhere in the city.

"Hide!" Jason said. "Quick!"

The group scattered. Leo, Hazel and Nico ran and hid in an opening between a ripped off roof that was leaning toward a ruin that probably been a house just a day ago.

They saw a huge paws (twice as long as Leo!) walk by outside their small hiding place. Leo barely dared to breathe. He didn't relax until the monster had passed.

It wasn't heroic, but the demigods had decided that they'll run and hide instead of fight when it was possible. Fighting would just slow them down, and maybe kill or injure them.

Leo crawled out to the light and helped Hazel up. Nico followed them.

"Where are they?" Nico muttered.

A few minutes later, they found the other demigods (and the satyr). No one seemed to be hurt.

"Let's continue then." Jason said, trying to sound happy about it.

An awkward silence settled over the group. Leo could see that the others were tired of this, tired of running and hiding and fighting when they knew they were gonna die soon anyway. He couldn't let them think that way.

"C'mon." Leo said loudly. "We have a world to save, remember?"

Nico nodded and started to walk. Leo was quick to follow him, and soon all of them were.

* * *

Leo glanced at his friends. There was something wrong. They hadn't been like this just half an hour ago. He gave Hazel's hand a squeeze and then let go and walked over to Jason.

"What's up, bro'? You seem… Dull." Leo said quietly, so Piper wouldn't hear.

"We saw a child." Jason said, like it explained everything. He glanced over at Piper, whose eyes were big and red after crying. "She couldn't have been more than two, maybe. Some monster had slaughtered her and she was covered in so much blood..."

Jason's voice trailed off, and Leo felt his guts twist. So many innocent mortals already had gotten killed, and there was absolutely _nothing_ they could do about it.

_If Medea and other evil people had been able to come back to life, _Leo thought bitterly, _why couldn't the poor killed mortals do it to?_

"If we defeat Gaea," Leo said quietly, "we'll save the world and gazillion of lives. We'll be true heroes. There are some people that already have died, and we can't do anything about them right now. But for their sake, we have to try to save their families and friends."

Leo looked in to Jason's sky-blue eyes, and saw something he didn't expect; admiration. Jason was actually looking at Leo in _awe._

"How do you do that, man?" He asked. "Keep yourself calm and together. Since Percy and I was sorta' the leaders before, and now Percy is gone, I thought I would be left with all the responsibility. I thought I was going to be the leader. But, no,_ you_ are, and it's really awesome."

Leo blushed a little. He didn't spend that much time with Jason anymore, but he was Leo's best friend. Jason would stick up for him. It made Leo feel warm inside.

He grinned.

"Admiral, flaming hot, fire-boy Valdez at your service. Take care of Pipes, will ya? She still looks… Uh…" Leo looked uncertainly at Jason's girlfriend, "traumatized."

Their shared a smile before Leo walked back to Hazel. She gave him a quizzical look, but he just shook his head and smiled a little to show that it was nothing.

* * *

"Where exactly is the House of Hades?" Leo asked Nico about half an hour later.

"Just by the Parthenon." Nico shrugged. "We're there in a few minutes."

Piper frowned.

"Are you sure? I haven't heard about any temple dedicated to Hades anywhere nearby the Parthenon."

Leo was relieved that Piper had said anything. Since she had seen that child Jason told him about, she had been quiet and shocked – but now Leo at least knew that she still was alive.

"Just trust me." Nico insisted, and they kept walking in silence.

Nico was right. About five minutes later, they were standing in front of the Parthenon. It radiated some kind of power that made Leo's skin tingle just like when he was about to catch fire. Quickly, he let go of Hazel's hand.

The building was old and damaged, but it didn't seem like the monsters had done anything to it. Leo assumed that it had some godly protection-magic over it or something. He didn't have time to appreciate the temple more, though, because Nico led them a through all pieces of old construction material that was scattered all around the Parthenon, to an especially big piece of what looked like an old pillar. It was something carved on it in Ancient Greek.

The demigods (and Coach Hedge) scattered around the fallen pillar and stared at the old, frayed letters.

"Entry to the House of Hades." Nico said.

"I don't know if it's just me, but I don't see any house." Leo said, but Hazel nudged him.

Nico kneeled in front of the pillar and let his hand glide over the words. He closed his eyes and muttered something in Ancient Greek that Leo translated to "To someone of the Underworld's blood, the magic of the House of Hades will once again flood."

Something with those words made shivers creep down Leo's spine. He wrapped an arm around Hazel and pulled her closer.

For a brief moment, nothing happened and Leo almost believed it wouldn't at all. But then the ground started to rumble and shake, almost knocking all of them off their feet. Just behind the fallen pillar, something started to grow.

Leo couldn't believe his eyes. A temple, just like the Parthenon but pitch-black and not as old, sprung out from the ground. It was not as big as the Parthenon, but still pretty huge.

It radiated power too, made Leo's skin tingle like crazy. He felt like his whole body was going to catch fire any second.

The first one to break the silence was Coach Hedge.

"I smell Underworld, Underworld means monsters, and monsters mean fighting!" He grinned madly. "This is gonna be awesome! C'mon, cupcakes!"

And hell broke loose.

**_Next chapter will come later! Hope you liked this one, and please review! _**


	36. Chapter 36

**_Hi, guys! :) Thanks for your reviews, I love all of you! _**

**_Enjoy :D_**

**Chapter 36 – I love you**

**_LEO_**

Leo had no idea what was going on, but suddenly there were monsters _everywhere. _It seemed like they had popped out of nowhere.

"RUN!" He heard Jason yell somewhere behind him. Leo grabbed Hazel's arm and dragged her with him.

Leo tried his best to not trip and fall over the pieces of the old Parthenon that was lying everywhere. His skin crawled, and he could feel the power from the House of Hades and the Parthenon mingle together and make the air thick with magic.

"W-What's happening?!" Hazel stuttered. "Leo?!"

"I don't know…" Leo said genuinely. He had only one goal; not letting Hazel get hurt.

Leo turned around and searched for any familiar faces between all the monsters. He caught a glimpse of Coach Hedge once, but he was gone before Leo could call for him. The beasts were looking for the demigods, throwing rocks and other things they found on the ground, roaring and breathing fire. Fear crawled up in Leo's throat.

More monsters were coming out from the House of Hades, each one more horrible and ancient. _The Doors of Death_, Leo thought. _They're coming straight from Tartarus._

"We have to turn back!" Hazel screamed to Leo. She had seen it too. "We have to close the Doors and save Percy and Annabeth!"

Leo opened his mouth, but he didn't get to respond. Hazel suddenly stumbled over something and fell to the ground, dragging Leo with her.

He noticed that his palms were rasped and bleeding. His pants had been scraped by the knees, and he was bleeding there too. Hazel was lying next to him, breathing heavily and trying to rise to her feet.

Leo struggled to get up, but he stopped and his eyes widened. Hazel stared at him.

"Uh-oh." He gulped. "Not good. Not good at all."

Hazel looked confused. She tried to rise again, but she eventually realized something was holding her back. She turned her head to see what was holding her down, and choked-

"Is that _plants_?" She asked Leo incredulously. "It's not even _earth_ anywhere around here! How…?"

"It's earth everywhere. We just can't see it right here." Leo grumbled. "It's Gaea."

Hazel struggled and tried to get her foot out of the plants. Leo could feel them slowly crawling and wrapping around his legs, killing every chance of rising to his feet again.

"Don't fight them." Leo said and gritted his teeth. "It won't slow them down."

Hazel quickly stopped moving. They just lied there for a moment, and Leo thought he never had felt more pathetic.

"We have to kill them someway!" Hazel said desperately. "Fire?"

Leo concentrated. He thought of hot flames dancing over his whole body, but it was like the plants knew what he was trying to do. They quickly crept up to his back and wrapped themselves around him really hard, almost cutting off the blood circulation. Leo made strangled sound of pain.

"Leo?" Hazel nervously asked.

"I-I can't set fire on them." He said hoarsely. "I'm sorry."

Hazel didn't answer him. Leo felt the plants slowly crawling up his arms, tying his them together.

_I don't want to die this way_, Leo thought angrily. _I don't want to die helpless like this, while seeing my girlfriend suffer next to me._

He turned his head to look at Hazel, and was caught by surprise. She had tears in her eyes and was angry-looking, struggling to keep the plants off her shoulders.

"Hazel, are you okay?" Leo asked uncertainly. It was a lame question to ask while they were dying, but she was _crying._

"No!" She said angrily. "It's my fault. I got us in to this mess. If I hadn't tripped-"

Leo chuckled a little.

"How can this be your fault? It's _Gaea_'s fault, Hazel. You haven't done anything wrong." He said in his most soothing voice. Leo hated seeing her like this.

"It is my fault!"

"Believe me, it's not."

Hazel glared at him.

"I've tried to tell you that about your mother's death since I've met you, but you still won't believe me. So stop saying I should believe you about this."

Leo stared at Hazel in surprise. She looked away and muttered under her breath while struggling against the plants.

"If I hadn't tripped we would never have been attacked by this plants, now we're going to die, I'll literally be the cause of my boyfriend's death, Percy and Annabeth will-"

"I love you." Leo blurted out.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew they were true. Leo Valdez loved Hazel Levesque. She was about the only thing that mattered in this stupid, miserable world. She was his _everything_, and it was important that she knew how much she meant to him.

Then, Leo actually _realized_ what he just said. And, of course, that was the right moment to burst in to flames.

"Leo!" Hazel screamed.

The plants quickly let go of Leo and sunk back in to the earth. He sat up and stared at his (now not burning anymore) hands in awe. Angry red marks were left where the plants had tied him up and his palms were still bleeding, but at least he was free.

"L-Leo!" Hazel gasped.

Leo turned so fast that he got dizzy. The plants had wormed around Hazel's throat, and her face was red in the need of air.

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry!" Leo said, immediately summoned fire in his hand and touched the plants. They let go of Hazel as soon as the heat reached them, jumped back in to the earth as fast as they could.

Leo forced his fire to die and helped Hazel up on her feet. He kind of hoped Hazel had forgotten what he had said, but even if she had, the deep red blush on Leo's cheeks would surely remind her.

Hazel raised her head and tried to lock eyes with Leo, but he kept his eyes on his hands. He could still feel how red his face was.

"Leo…" Hazel hesitated.

Then she tipped his chin up and kissed him hard on the mouth. At first, Leo was too surprised to answer the kiss, but then his numb lips started to move together with Hazel's. And in that moment, time stopped, all chaos around them faded to nothing and the only thing that mattered was how close they were and their lips pressed together.

Hazel pulled away a few centimeters and leaned her forehead toward Leo's. She was smiling broadly.

"I love you too." She whispered, and Leo suddenly felt like he just jumped in a hot bathe. Warmth washed over him, and for a second he almost thought he had caught fire again. Luckily, he hadn't.

"THERE YOU ARE!"

A loud voice interrupted them, and Leo and Hazel jumped at least three meters. Nico was running toward them, covered in monster-dust and cuts here and there.

"We have to close the Doors _now_, all the others are already waiting outside the House of Hades, you have to hurry if we'll have a chance at saving Percy and Annabeth-"

Leo's eyes widened and he felt panic wash over him. Everything around him suddenly became sharper, and he could hear exactly every roar and every scream the monster caused. Shivers went down his spine.

Hazel was pale and she clasped Leo's hand really tight.

Nico's eyes had a lost and desperate look, a little like he had looked when they just found him in Rome.

_This is bad_, Leo thought bitterly before he and Hazel followed Nico.

**_Pretty short, I know. Sorry :( Review?_**


	37. Chapter 37

**_THANKS FOR ALL REVIEWS._**

**_This chapter will actually be from Piper's point of view! I don't like her that much, mostly because I think she just forgot Leo since Jason came around, but… It was necessary._**

**_If anyone wants to make this more painful than it already is (I cried while writing it), listen to Lady Antebellum's song Never Alone. I guarantee that it will be hundredth times more hurtful. _**

**_Livelaughrun_****_: Thank you for the kind words :) And I don't get why people think it's weird to write about characters getting tortured. It's a very big part of the story and very important in character building too. For example, Harry Potter wouldn't be the same if he hadn't had a terrible childhood (a pretty bad example, but anyway). I've always loved characters that have suffered, because it makes them so much more interesting. It often makes them nicer and not selfish. Believe me, I hate "seeing" Leo or any other character that I love suffering, but it's necessary. Don't stop writing either, and definitely don't care about what those people in your school say. They don't know the first thing about writing if they can't understand how necessary pain is._**

**_authourofmanythings_****_: Percy meets her in Demigod Files (an extra book that takes place between The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian) :) I recommend it strongly!_**

**Chapter 37 – Gone**

**_PIPER_**

Piper was desperately clutching on to Jason's arm. They were standing outside the House of Hades with Frank and Coach Hedge. Frank was shooting arrows to keep the monsters away.

She didn't feel anything. She had just one thing in mind, and it was to close the Doors of Death. Save Percy and Annabeth, save the world, save everything and everyone she loved.

Piper glanced up at Jason's face. He was pale, but he had a grim expression and his sky-blue eyes were full of determination to succeed with this quest. It struck Piper how much she loved him, and she squeezed his arm a little tighter. Jason gave her a questioning look, but she just smiled weakly and turned her attention to the three figures running towards them.

"Hurry!" Nico breathed as soon as he, Leo and Hazel reached them. "There's no time! COME ON!"

Nico didn't seem to care about the shocked looks everybody gave him. He looked fierce, angry, and it was something that definitely was wrong. The only one who didn't look shocked or surprised was Hazel; she was watching her brother with sad eyes and a pained expression that made Piper think she knew exactly why he was acting like that.

But there was no time to think. They all followed Nico in to the House of Hades.

There was completely dark in there. Piper couldn't see _anything_ and it wasn't a darkness that your eyes could adjust to; it was a solid, thick blackness that no kind of light could cut through.

Leo made an annoyed huff somewhere next to Piper, but Nico just said:

"Don't even bother, it won't work."

It was something about the darkness that made Piper's chest tighten and her mind slowly get paralyzed with fear. She wasn't that scared of darkness, but this was different. It was horrible. She didn't know where she was, what she was doing there and where she was going. The only thing that kept her from going insane was the feeling of Jason's solid body pressed against her.

"Just keep walking." Nico said loudly. "As fast as you can. This is the same kind of darkness my father can melt to when he uses his helm."

Piper gulped.

But soon, Piper could see a light somewhere in front of them. She almost could make out the others now, and the darkness seemed… Thinner. She unsheathed Katopris and noticed that the Celestial Bronze actually shined.

A loud snap and a sudden bright flame told Piper that Leo's fire-summoning worked again.

Still, Piper couldn't see the walls of the room. She could make out the black marble floor, but that was all. She had an odd feeling that it wouldn't matter how light the room was, you would never be able to see it properly. It was terrifying.

"We won't make it if you're this slow!" Nico snapped angrily. "_Come on!_"

"Nico-" Hazel started.

"You want to save Percy and Annabeth or not?!" He interrupted.

They sped up.

The light was much closer now, and Piper could see what it was. It was a pair of huge, open bronze gates. They radiated death, pure death, and she was fighting the feeling of turning and running back. Piper felt that Jason was slowing down too.

Nico didn't stop; he walked right towards the Doors of Death. Hazel and Leo were quick to follow, and the rest of the group eventually did too.

There were no decorations on the gates; they were very simple, just a pair of normal gates in bronze, but huge. They went from wall to wall, but since you couldn't see the walls it looked like they went on forever. They radiated this power that made Piper's skin crawl and her body go numb with fear. Images of horrible monsters and killed people formed in her head, making her wince. Piper hadn't even seen any of those images in reality.

"I-It's okay." Jason's voice whispered in her ear, but it sounded so weak and thin that she, for once, didn't believe him.

A sudden, blood-freezing growl made everybody jump a few meters. It came from behind the Doors, and suddenly Piper realized that it wasn't the gates that were the problem; it was what was behind them.

"Tartarus." Nico said. He didn't sound scared or nervous. Piper glanced at him and tried to read him, but he had a perfect pokerface. Only his eyes were distant.

"Shouldn't it be welling monsters out from there?" Frank asked and frowned.

Nico closed his eyes.

"Not right now. It's like… Waves. Sometimes, no monsters are coming out, and sometimes it's like millions of them."

"And what now?" Leo asked nervously. "Where are Percy and Annabeth?"

"They're on their way." Hazel said.

"We'll have to wait about a few minutes." Nico agreed.

Everybody's eyes were fixed on the Doors or staring in to the darkness behind the bronze gates. Horrible growls broke the silence from time to time. Piper pressed herself as close to Jason as possible, shut her eyes and tried to push away the paralyzing fear and horrible images that filled her head.

It started with a murmur, a very quiet voice right from Tartarus. Piper's eyes flew open and she could hear the others inhale sharply.

"They-They're coming." Hazel gasped.

She was right. Piper couldn't make out the words, but she almost recognized Percy's voice. She held her breath.

And suddenly, they were there. Percy and Annabeth were standing in the darkness, and Piper almost cried out in relief. But the sound never made it to her mouth.

Annabeth's left side was drenched in blood. She still had the bubble wrap around her ankle, and her hair was so dirty that it didn't look blonde. She was leaning against Percy, whose arm had a huge wound with green liquid flooding out from it. He had a deep, red cut on his forehead. Other from that, they had a lot of bruises and smaller cuts too, but that wasn't the worst.

Their faces were dark, and it was so much pain and fear in them that Piper caught her breath just looking at them. And their eyes were like broken glass, you could practically see how broken they were and how horrible things they had gone through just looking in to them.

Everybody ran to them at once. Maybe their attempt had been to help them, but it quickly resulted in a tight group hug.

"Oh my gods." Piper said, tears escaping her eyes. "You're alive!"

Somehow, Percy actually managed to pull off a grin. It was weak, but it still was a grin.

"Yeah, we're alive."

"What happened to you?!" Frank asked. "Those-those wounds…"

"…Will heal." Annabeth finished. Piper was surprised over how calm she sounded. "We have to close the Doors. Fast. The monsters were chasing us. They'll come soon."

"There's a lock on the other side. It doesn't matter if we close the Doors; someone has to lock them." Percy explained.

"But if it's a lock on the other side, why can't the monsters just open the Doors all the time?" Jason asked, confused.

"It can only be locked with a Demigod or god's touch." Annabeth said. "Someone has to go in there."

The silence that followed Annabeth's word was eerie. Piper felt something in her melt. They couldn't just send someone in there again; it was too cruel, it was worse than_ killing_ them. She looked at Percy and Annabeth, how broken they were, and the thought of making someone like that made her guts twist.

"I'll go." Jason said grimly. "I'll do it."

And that was when Piper's world fell apart. She wanted to scream. She wasn't letting Jason go in there, she _wasn't_, she wasn't going to lose him. Piper hugged him tightly, trying to show him without using her voice that she wasn't going to let go of him, _never_. Not after everything they had been through. She felt Jason's hand caress her hair while she hid her face in his shirt, tears burning in her eyes.

"No, I'm going." Coach Hedge said. He didn't even sound scared. "I'll show them that I'm not a worthless satyr just because I'm old!"

"Coach?" Jason said.

"Yeah, Grace?"

"You can't lock the Doors. You're not a Demigod."

Coach Hedge didn't reply.

"I'll lock it." Frank grumbled.

"No!" Hazel's voice broke. "No, Frank. I'll go."

"Never." Jason hissed.

"Why is it so hard for you to get? I'll go!"

"You have to stay here and help the others. I'll go."

Piper raised her head and glanced at Percy and Annabeth. They looked tired, and it struck Piper that they hadn't volunteered to lock the Doors. She knew that they should have been the first; they would gladly give themselves to Tartarus if it meant saving their friends. But they were just standing there quietly, watching the others fight with sad eyes and holding each other.

_It's so horrible in there, that even they don't want to go back, _Piper thought.

"I'll do it." Piper croaked. "I-I'll do it."

Jason stiffened. Then he pulled her away and stared in to her eyes.

"Don't be silly, Pipes. You're not going to lock the Doors."

His sky-blue eyes stared in to hers, and she caught a glimpse of fear behind the brave facade. Piper couldn't find her voice. Jason wrapped his strong arms around her again, and she melted at the touch. No, no one of them was going.

"You're so silly."

Everybody turned and stared at Nico. He was staring at the Doors with a… _longing _expression.

"You don't know how it is in there. You won't survive. I did because I'm a son of Hades, Percy and Annabeth did because they had each other. But at some point, you just have to give up. Give in. Stop fighting. If you're not strong enough, you give up when you're still in there. Or you give up when you've made it through, when you've come out from there. You'll give in to the fear and just accept what you've been through. If you do it when you're in there, you just… Give yourself to death. Embrace it. And it's not… It's not as horrible as you think. You're just too tired to care."

There was an expression on Nico's face that Piper couldn't read. She suddenly felt sorry for him. What would you have to go through to actually _want _to die? What had he gone through?

But Hazel gripped his shoulders and made him stare right in her face. She didn't even say anything, she just looked at him, and somehow he seemed to understand. He looked at her with tired eyes, but when she let go, he didn't volunteer to lock the Doors.

Everyone was quiet.

"You know what? Let's just try to close the Doors as much as we can and worry about the rest later." Coach Hedge huffed.

No one had a better plan, so they walked to the gates and split up to two different groups for each one. Piper felt like she was going to fall down death if she walked any closer, but she couldn't do anything about it. She took a hard grip around one of the rods, ignoring how her heart raced faster and faster.

Piper, Jason, Nico and Frank started to push as Leo, Coach Hedge, Hazel and Nico did the same to the other gate. Percy and Annabeth joined them.

It hurt to push them close. Just touching the gates made Piper feel like she was burning and they were really heavy too. Sweat pearled on her forehead, and she gritted her teeth in

The growling form the other side got louder.

"A new wave of monsters is coming." Nico warned. "We better be quick."

Leo was staring in to the darkness behind the Doors. His eyes were dark and full with a burning pain and sadness that worried Piper. She realized that he had been completely quiet while the others had fought about who would be locking the Doors, which worried her even more.

"The lock." He suddenly said and turned to Percy and Annabeth. "Is it mechanic or anything?"

Percy frowned a little. He had a pained expression on his face.

"No. It's a small, circular mark on one of the rods. It's in gold. We figured you just have to touch it."

Annabeth didn't answer. She was pale and sweat pearls were running down her forehead.

"It's magic." She said through gritted teeth.

Piper looked at them with a worried expression.

"We have to get you two back to the ship. We have ambrosia and nectar there."

Percy shook his head.

"It doesn't work. Annabeth and I had some with us when we fell down there. The poison is too ancient."

"We have to get back to Camp Half-Blood. The Golden Fleece is the only thing that can help." Annabeth said. "But we have to close the Doors first."

"Stop pushing." Leo suddenly said, and everybody stopped. The gates were almost closed now, but a person could probably squeeze himself through them and get to the other side if he really tried.

They stopped and looked at him with puzzled expressions.

"I am going in." he said, and Piper felt like her heart stopped for a second.

"No!" Hazel had a wild look in her eyes. "No, Leo, you are NOT-"

"No." Piper felt like her throat was closing up. "No, there has to be another-"

But she stopped. Another what? There weren't another way. Someone had to go in. Piper didn't want anyone to do it, but someone had to.

Annabeth held up her hand, her expression grim and the grey eyes stormy.

"Leo, do you know how dangerous it is in there? I only survived because of Percy. You will get yourself killed, and who will steer the ship if-"

"I don't care!"

Piper and everyone else jumped of surprise.

"I'm going in!" Leo screamed. "You can't do anything about it. I screwed up; Gaea maybe would be less awake if it wasn't for me. Medea waked here up just to visit me and-"

Piper saw something she didnt expect; tears were running down his cheeks. For the first time, she realized that Leo blamed himself for everything that happened. Everything. Guilt boiled in her and it hurt more than touching the stupid gates.

"Leo, no." Hazel whispered. She looked completely broken, tears flooding out from her eyes. "Leo, we've talked about this. It isn't right. It's not your fault."

Leo hesitated. He looked at Hazel, and there was so much love in his eyes that Piper felt her own heart melt.

Tears were still running down his cheeks. He swallowed.

"I need to do this." Leo said quietly, and Piper could see how much it hurt him. "It's for you. It's for the best."

Piper saw how much Hazel struggled to not break down, and she was losing the battle.

"No, you can't, I won't let you!" She cried. "You can't leave me alone. Please, Leo, don't."

Leo's face broke in to a smile. It was a genuine smile, a real smile, not the grin that he hid all his pain behind. He slowly caressed Hazel's cheek.

"I love you." He said. "You're never alone, Hazel. You have the others."

Hazel cried, and Piper's heart ached. Guilt, pain and tears mixed in to a complete mess in her, and she just wanted to say something, do something, but all she could do was stand there and stare.

"But you'll be gone." Hazel whispered so quietly that Piper almost didn't hear her. "You'll be gone."

Leo leaned in and kissed Hazel's forehead, a soft, small kiss like a blessing.

"My love will follow you, stay with you, and you're never alone."

He turned to the others and grinned.

"Good luck. Save the world. Don't disappoint me."

"Leo, are you sure?" Annabeth asked, her voice soft.

"You don't need to do this." Jason said grimly.

Leo shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Annabeth, take care of Argo II. You're the only one who knows at least a little about how to steer her. Jason, don't let Beauty Queen get hurt."

And suddenly, Piper found her voice again. She stumbled to Leo.

"Leo, please." Piper whispered. "Don't do this. Your mom died for you. Don't-You can't-"

"That's why he has to do this." Nico suddenly said. He regarded Leo with dark, knowing eyes.

Leo nodded, and met Nico's gaze. Some kind of understanding passed between them, and Nico shook Leo's hand.

"Good luck." He said simply, and Leo smiled.

"Take care of Hazel for me."

Piper glanced over at Hazel. She was gasping for air, shaking violently and still crying. Frank was standing next to her, looking very confused.

Leo pulled Piper in to a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry, Leo." Piper whispered in his ear. "I'm so sorry for just ignoring you because of Jason. _I'm so sorry._"

"C'mon, Pipes. You are amazing." Leo said and grinned when they pulled away. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"I love you, Repair Boy." Piper said and smiled.

"I love you too, Beuaty Queen. I promise that this will help you save the world." Leo said.

"What?" Jason asked.

"An oath to keep with a final breath." Leo explained. "Now no one else of you have to die for this quest."

And with those words, he flashed them all a last smile and squeezed himself through the Doors of Death.

In silence, they closed the gates. Piper could still make out Leo in the darkness behind the Doors. He reached a hand out and put a finger on a spot on one of the rods.

A loud rumbling sound shook the House of Hades. The Doors started to glow.

"Cover your eyes!" Jason yelled.

Piper closed her eyes and hugged Jason. A cold breeze from Tartarus blew over them, making them all shudder, and suddenly the light died out. Piper opened her eyes and looked at the gates, which looked exactly like before but now closed. She fixed her eyes on the darkness behind them, trying to make out Leo.

But he was gone.

**_This was the last chapter. There will be an epilogue too, so we don't need to say goodbye just yet. I just want to tell you how grateful I am for your support all the way through this; I would never have continued to write if it wasn't for you. I genuinely love you._**

**_Don't kill me! The epilogue is left. I just want to tell you that I didn't write this ending to hurt you, but because I'm really scared this will actually happen in the House of Hades. And I knew it would end like this before I even started to write this fanfiction._**

**_The epilogue will come soon! Love ya!_**


	38. Epilogue

**_Here I am with the last chapter in this story. You've been so amazingly nice to me; I can't even imaginr how it will be to stop writing for you. But I'm thinking of starting to write Lazel drabbles, and I would be very happy if you wanted to read them :) And feel free to PM me! I'd love to fangirl or just talk with you! _**

**_Promise me to remember how perfect you all are. _**

**EPILOUGE **

**_HAZEL_**

_Five Months Later_

Hazel opened her eyes.

It was morning. Again. She didn't remember the last time when she had been happy to wake up. Couldn't it just be night forever?

Hazel rose, changed out from her pajamas, brushed her teeth and left the cabin.

The campers were running around, just like every day. Fauns where trying to steal food from those demigods who were carrying food, some people were just chatting casually and some were practicing their fighting skills.

Her gaze swept over the camp, and realized how much it had changed since they had come back from the quest. It was much less… Strict. More like Camp Half-Blood.

Since the demigod at the two camps now knew about each other, Chiron and Reyna hadn't seen any point in hiding them from each other. The Athena Parthenos were back with the Greeks in Camp Half-Blood, and it wasn't as tense between Romans and Greeks. A calendar with weeks were you could visit the other camp had been invented; the demigods were allowed to visit each other one week a month. The leaders and campers tried to learn from each other. Everybody were surprised over how well Chiron and Reyna came along. Octavian was the only one who didn't like the idea of mixing Greeks and Romans ("We're Romans! We can't get along with those Greeks! Don't we have any pride left!?"), but no one cared about his opinion. The demigods were happy.

It was really nice. Under those weeks when the campers were allowed to visit the other camp, they learned so much from each other. Now, half of the demigods at Camp Jupiter could speak Ancient Greek. Many people in Camp Half-Blood had learned to fight with _gladiuses _or _sparthas. _The children of Vulcan and Hephaestus had together built a kind of magic transporter. It looked like an elevator that fit about four people, and if you stepped in there and pressed the _START_-button, it magically sent you to the other camp. It didn't take more than a second. Every camp had two: one to send campers away and one to receive campers that arrived. Only Reyna and Chiron could make them turn them off or on. They were turned on during the "visit-week", but otherwise no one could use them.

Hazel had visited Camp Half-Blood trice three times they'd come back from the quest, the first time to see her brother Nico's cabin. He had shown her around, and it was really nice over there. Nico had moved in to the Hades cabin permanently now, and he wasn't treated like an outsider anymore; quite the opposite. All the demigods from the _Argo II _were treated like heroes. Hazel didn't know if she liked it or not. She mostly just wanted to not be noticed and be left alone.

She still remembered it all very clearly. After closing the Doors, they had hurried to get Annabeth and Percy to the ship so they could rest. Hazel and Piper had been asked to stay there and take care of them. In other circumstances, they would have protested and wanted to go and fight the monsters too (they hadn't died when they closed the Doors as they hoped), but neither of them really cared.

Jason, Frank, Coach Hedge and Nico had come back completely shocked. They told Hazel and Piper that Neptune/Poseidon had appeared out of nowhere and killed all the monsters with a snap of his fingers. He had thanked them for closing the Doors. The boys had taken the opportunity to warn him about Melinoe and Khione, and after telling him about the plan, the god had left immediately to tell the rest of the Olympians.

Gaea had fallen asleep again. The giants had melted back in to the earth when their mother gave up.

The gods had taken care of Khione and Melinoe, but they had put up quite a fight. For a whole month, the whole country had been suffering through horrible snow storms. But of course, the minor goddesses didn't have chance against all of the Olympians. No one knew what the gods had done to them.

The demigods were still puzzled when it came to the prophecy. Seven half-bloods had answered the call. But Khione's snow storms had just blown through America, and America wasn't the whole world. And they had fought about who that would lock the Doors.

Hazel didn't want to think about the prophecy. She didn't want to think about the third line.

_An oath to keep with a final breath._

He had promised that he closing the Doors would save them all, and it had. It had saved the world, just as he said. It had been an oath, and it had been kept with a final breath.

Hazel had known for a long time. A week after they had come back from the quest, his grip had slowly started to loosen. It had happened very slowly, and Hazel hadn't noticed it before he was already gone. Maybe that was a good thing. If she actually had known while it happened, she would have gone insane, because she knew that she couldn't do anything about it. That night when he really disappeared, Nico had come over. She hadn't contacted him or anything, but he had felt it too. Nico had ignored that it wasn't a "visit-week" or the rule about that the campers had to sleep in their own camps. He had come over, suddenly appearing out from the darkness around her and found her silently sobbing in her bed. Without a word, Nico had took Hazel's hand and shadow-travelled them to Camp Half-Blood. He had led her to the beach. They had just sat there until sunrise; him holding her while she cried.

But since then, Hazel hadn't cried once. She hadn't really done anything at all. She woke up every morning, did her activities, ate, showered and then went back to bed. She _lived_, but that was all. Hazel had become an empty shell, a body without a soul, and every one of her friends was aware of that.

They had tried to cheer her up at first, but it never worked. Now, they just hung out with her, talked about nothing and were together. It felt good. When she was with them, even if it was just for a moment, she felt normal again. She forgot about everything that happened and focused at being in her friends company. Hazel didn't know how to thank them for just being there, but something told her that they knew.

No one else knew. The other campers didn't know about why she was like that. Yeah, they treated her like a hero, but they didn't really _care _about her. It didn't matter. Hazel didn't even bother to notice.

But Reyna knew. Reyna was nice to her. Hazel didn't have to pretend around her. Around her, she could be the empty shell she really was, and not care about plastering a smile on her face or listen to answer when someone asked her questions. Just like with Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Frank and Nico. They wouldn't ask her why she didn't answer or ask if she was okay, because they already knew.

The person that Hazel was really grateful to, though, was Nico. Nico was with her all the time; he took care of her and was there when she needed him. It wasn't really until know she realized how much she loved him. He was the only one that really understood her, and she knew exactly why. Somehow, it wasn't just him comforting her, but it was her comforting him about Bianca's death. Hazel knew how much pain Nico still felt about her death, but he never had anyone comforting him about it. Now, they were leaning on each other, taking care about each other, and no one could have felt better in their situation.

Hazel's soul had gone to Tartarus with Leo, but her heart was left. She still felt the pain and the love. And she wasn't incapable of loving anyone else; she loved Nico and all the other from the quest. But her soul was long lost, and she knew for sure that it wouldn't come back.

"Hi, Hazel." A soft voice came behind her. She turned to see Piper, Jason, Annabeth, Percy, Frank and Nico. The corners of her mouth slowly twisted upward to a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. None of her smiles had in five months.

Piper pulled her in to a hug, and Annabeth did the same. Both she and Percy's wounds were healed now, thanks to the Golden Fleece. They looked as healthy as ever.

Percy grinned.

"We're going to barbeque! We have hot dogs, hot chocolate, brownies…"

"Where?" Hazel asked.

"At the beach in Camp Half-Blood." Jason said and smiled. "We can go ice-skating on the lake too. Care to join us?"

Hazel looked at her friends, all dressed in coats and carrying bags with food and skates, and she couldn't bring herself to say no.

"Sure. But I'll have to borrow someone's skates."

* * *

They had a pretty good day. The grilled hot dogs tasted good, and the warm chocolate gave them the energy to continue to ice-skate in the cold. Hazel wasn't the only one who didn't know how to ice-skate; Nico refused to even go out on the ice and Frank fell all the time. Hazel laughed and smiled, and she lost herself in the joy. She didn't think of Leo at all.

After being outside in almost four hours, they all were cold and had flushed cheeks. Piper and Jason we're going to keep skating, Percy and Annabeth had to teach classes (once a week, Percy taught sword-fighting while Annabeth taught Ancient Greek, since they were two of the older campers), and Frank mumbled something about going back to Camp Jupiter. They said their goodbyes, and that left only Nico and Hazel left.

"So, how have you been doing?" Nico asked Hazel.

She shrugged.

"As usual, I guess."

Nico glanced at her and nodded. They stood there in comfortable silence and gazed out over the lake, where more demigods from both camps were ice-skating.

"Have you heard from dad lately?" Nico suddenly asked.

Hazel frowned. Pluto never contacted her and Nico knew that. Hades didn't contact him either. So why would he be asking?

"No. Why?"

Nico blushed a little.

"Nothing. I just had a dream about him last night."

Hazel straightened and stared at him.

"What?! What did he say?!"

Her brother stared at the lake, looking as confused as she felt.

"We… We _small-talked_." He said and blinked a few times, like he couldn't believe it himself. "He asked about how I've been. He asked about you too. Apparently, the gods had a hard time to adjust to Greek and Roman demigods getting mixed. They're pretty torn, but Hades said that it was getting better. He said he's going to check on you too, so you should expect a dream about him soon."

Hazel was really surprised. Pluto never talked to her. And small-talking wasn't something she could imagine him doing at all.

"That's… Strange." She said slowly.

"Yeah." Nico agreed. "Very."

They were silent for a few minutes. Hazel's mind trying to process what Nico had told her.

"What do you want to do now?" Nico asked her. "We could go back to Camp Jupiter, if there's not a too long line to the transporter. It's dinner soon, and as much as I love the food here, you're camp's food is even better."

Hazel smiled and nudged him.

"Dork."

Nico grinned.

Unfortunately, the line to the transporter was endlessly long, so they had to settle for eating at Camp Half-Blood. The demigods didn't sit with their cabins anymore, since there were so many new cabins for the minor gods/goddesses and guests from Camp Jupiter all the time. Everybody sat with whoever they wanted.

After a good meal, Hazel decided that she should go back to Camp Jupiter. Nico asked if she wanted him to come with, but she told him no. After waiting in line for a few minutes and taking the elevator back, she bumped in to Frank.

"Wha-Oh, hi, Hazel." Frank blushed.

"I'm sorry." Hazel said.

"No! No, it's okay."

Hazel gave him a smile and started to walk away.

"Actually, Hazel, I-I have to ask you something."

She turned to Frank again, who was looking very embarrassed now.

"I'm sorry about Leo." He said quietly. Hazel's stomach twisted when she heard the name, and she had to force herself to not run away.

She just nodded.

"And… I'm sorry for what I did." Frank said. "You know, making Leo be with you to see if something would happen. It was stupid."

Hazel flinched. She had completely forgotten about that.

"No, it wasn't your fault." She said softly. "Khione played with your mind. Don't be sorry."

"I know, but I-" Frank looked down at his feet. "I doubted you. I thought you would leave me for Leo, and you did, but you wouldn't if I didn't mess up. I think that even if Khione hadn't played with my mind, I would have done something stupid. But clearly, you were happy with Leo. And that's all I ever wanted for you."

Frank met her eyes for a second, but then dropped his gaze to the ground again. Hazel suddenly remembered how much she loved Frank; not like _that_ anymore, but as a friend.

"Did you love me?" He said. It was so quiet that Hazel almost didn't hear it. Her heart melted.

Hazel leaned forward and kissed Frank on the cheek.

"I still do. Just not like… _that_ anymore. But yes, I did."

Frank's face broke in to a smile.

Hazel suddenly remembered something and opened her coat and took out Frank's stick. She held it to him.

"I guess you want this back, since we're not together anymore."

Frank looked surprised, and stared at the stick. But then he shook his head with a small smile playing on his lips.

"I don't want it back. It won't be safe with me. I'd like you to keep it… If you want to."

She chewed her lip, but then she nodded. Frank instantly looked much happier.

Hazel shot him a tired smile and left.

She felt drained out of energy. She felt that way sometimes; not because that she had ice-skated, but because she had spent so much time with _people_. Talked. Laughed. Acted like normal.

Hazel couldn't stop asking herself when it all went wrong. What had she done to deserve this pain? No. She didn't deserve any pity. What had _Leo _done to deserve all that pain?

She couldn't figure that out. He had never done anything wrong in his whole life, and still he was the one that always had been the most miserable of them all. It wasn't fair.

There were times when Hazel had asked herself: _When did it all get so complicated?_ But eventually she realized that it wasn't complicated at all. It had been complicated on the _Argo II_, when she was trying to decide between Frank and Leo, but now it was simple.

Leo was gone. Hazel was left. It was really simple.

Too simple.

* * *

A few nights later, Pluto visited Hazel in a dream.

She was standing on deck on the _Argo II_. The ship was aloft. It looked just like it used to, and it reminded her so much of Leo that she almost couldn't breathe.

"Hello, Hazel."

Hazel turned. Pluto was standing by the helm. He looked exactly like she remembered him; black hair, pale skin, dark eyes. He was dressed in a black, Roman toga. Hazel was surprised that she was related to him at all; she didn't look like him at all.

She didn't really know what to call him. "Dad" seemed wrong, especially since Hazel didn't know Pluto at all, and "Pluto" maybe would make him angry. Just to be safe, Hazel said:

"Lord Pluto."

He eyed her with his dark eyes. Hazel could see everything she didn't want to see in them; death, the Underworld, pain.

"How have you been? I'm sorry about the unlucky faith of that son of Hephaestus. I heard you were pretty… close."

Hazel didn't answer. Since Nico had told her about their father visiting him, she had thought of all kind of things to say to Pluto, but she was speechless.

"Why are you here?" She asked instead. Hazel didn't want to sound rude, she was just curious.

Pluto gave her a crooked smile. Shivers went down Hazel's spine.

"I wanted to check on my daughter. And I have some rather important things to discuss with you too."

Hazel eyed him suspiciously, but then nodded.

"First, I wanted to tell you that I'm very proud of you." Something in Pluto's cold eyes changed. They looked just a little softer than before. "You were excellent on that quest. I'm proud to have you as my daughter, Hazel."

It didn't sound fake, but Hazel still didn't want to believe him. She wasn't anything to be proud of; since Leo died, she had been a zombie. And she never had been a good fighter, or as dark and Underworld-like as Nico.

But she said:

"Thank you."

Pluto nodded, satisfied, and then raised an eyebrow.

"You aren't very eager to talk. Do you have any questions?"

Hazel was going to shake her head, but the words rolled off her tongue without her being able to stop them.

"Is he actually dead?"

The god didn't seem surprised. He looked at Hazel with a look she couldn't quite read, but nodded.

"Yes. He's dead. But he made it to Elysium."

Hazel's heart did a small flip.

"He's with his mother again, and seems quite happy. There is this other Hephaestus-boy – Berfendork, I think – that he seems to get along well with."

Pluto regarded Hazel, but she didn't change her expression. Inside, her heart swelled with happiness; Leo was happy. It was all she ever wanted him to be.

Her father cleared his throat.

"Anyway, I actually have a question for you; have you been inside your mind anything lately?"

It took a moment for Hazel to understand what he meant. She had completely forgotten about her ability to go inside her mind.

"No," She said slowly. "No, I haven't. Why?"

Pluto shrugged.

"It maybe would help you get better. I know you've been depressed. But if you tried to sort out your thoughts, maybe you would feel a little better." He almost looked amused when he saw Hazel's expression. "I see that you haven't thought about it before."

Without really knowing why, Hazel's mouth twitched in to a smile.

"Anything else?" She asked.

"Yes, I have one last matter to discuss; your brother, Nico."

Hazel stiffened. She met her father's gaze and asked:

"What about him?"

Pluto got a sad glint in his eyes.

"He's miserable. He won't let anyone know, but he feels just as much pain as you have lately. It's about his sister, Bianca."

Hazel frowned. Nico had mentioned that he had a sister that died, but not anything else. When she attempted to ask about her, he had quickly changed the subject. Hazel hadn't pushed him, but she knew that he still mourned over Bianca's death. They had seemed to be pretty close.

"She joined the Hunters of Diana." Pluto explained. "Then she went on a quest with that Percy Jackson boy and got killed. At first, Nico blamed Jackson, but now they seem to get along pretty well. He has stopped blaming Jackson and started to blame himself for not stopping Bianca from going on that quest. Nico have always been good at hiding his feelings, but his really starting to lose control now."

Hazel blinked. She hadn't realized that Nico had been that sad. It was a little strange; she had always seen Nico as the strong brother that didn't mourn over the past. Hazel felt her guts twist of guilt.

Even stranger was that she was actually talking about it with her _dad. _

"I'll-I'll take care of him." Hazel said. "Thanks for telling me."

Pluto smiled.

"You're much stronger than you think you are, Hazel. And I know that it feels very dark right now, but your faith isn't to mourn over the death. But whatever you do, I'll be proud of you."

The scene dissolved, and Hazel slowly felt how she glided in to a deeper, dreamless sleep.

* * *

The next day, Hazel visited Camp Half-Blood. She surprised Nico early in the morning by standing outside his cabin with a bag with breakfast that she had taken from Camp Jupiter.

He had apparently been sleeping, because he was wearing pajamas. It was a rather strange view after only seeing him in those weird, dark, clothes he always wore.

"Hazel!" His expression turned from surprise to worry. "What is wrong?! Has anything happened?!"

Hazel felt her heart sting. He assumed the worst about her as soon as she showed up, but that wasn't that strange. Everybody was wary around her. But the way Nico was so worried about Hazel, when it was he that was miserable.

She pulled him in to a hug, and then smiled sheepishly and showed him the bag.

"Breakfast from Camp Jupiter. I took everything I knew you like."

Nico grinned.

They sat down on his bed and ate in comfortable silence. Hazel glanced at Nico from time to time. She was struck by how much younger he looked with the ruffled hair and green pajamas; a kid without any problems, sitting on his bed and eating breakfast with his sister.

"Thanks, Hazel, this was really good." Nico said and smiled to her.

Hazel forced a smile while she went through what she was going to say for the hundredth time in her head.

But then, something on his nightstand caught her eye. Hazel turned, and found herself staring at a small toy. It looked like statue of Pluto/Hades.

"What's that?" She asked curiously. Nico looked up from his sandwich, followed her gaze and choked.

"N-Nothing." He coughed. He snatched the toy from the nightstand and stuffed it under his pillow.

Hazel watched Nico, his eyes reflecting panic and anger while he struggled to stop coughing. She handed him a glass of water.

"Nico-"

"It's nothing. I'm okay." Nico said, answering the two questions Hazel was going to ask before she even said them.

"Nico, I need to talk to you."

Nico froze. He stared down at his knees.

Millions of different ways to start the conversation went through Hazel's mind, but the one she used just slipped out of her mouth.

"I know you want to meet Bianca again."

Nico turned so fast that Hazel was sure his neck would start to hurt, but his eyes were suspicious.

"What do you mean? She's death."

Nico's voice caught a little at the end. Hazel struggled to find the right words, but they just rolled off her tongue when she opened her mouth. She didn't even know where they came from.

"At the Doors of Death. You wanted to lock them so you and Bianca could… Reunite."

Nico chuckled humorlessly.

"She chose to reborn. She's not in the Underworld anymore, if that is what you mean."

He stared down at his knees again. Hazel gripped his hand.

"Nico, look at me." Nico slowly met her gaze. "Tell me about her. What was she like?"

Her voice was soft, but still demanding. Nico's expression hardened.

"She was my sister. She was kind, shy, and did everything for me. She _loved _me." Nico said the word with disgust. "And I let her down. She didn't even get to know how much I loved her too."

"Nico-" Hazel whispered, but Nico wouldn't listen. It was like now he finally had the chance to get it all out, he wasn't going to let anything stop him.

"She was my… Everything. She was the only one left, and even if she was really young, she took care of me. We were unbreakable. And yes, I don't see any point in living without her anymore, and it hurts so damn much, but she's gone and I'll never find her."

Nico didn't cry. He had an expression that Hazel knew too well; she saw it every time she looked in to the mirror. He looked tired; tired of everything, tired of feeling tired, tired of _living. _Hazel's heart shattered to pieces when she saw Nico wear that expression, because it was thousand times worse than when she wore it herself. He had kept all his feelings inside since Bianca died, forced them down and convinced himself that he couldn't do anything else. Hazel had cried out, she had let them out as soon as she could, but Nico had kept all anger and sadness to himself and it had_ changed_ him.

Hazel wrapped her arms around him and pulled him as close as she could. It felt satisfying in a bittersweet way; she was thinking about comforting Nico instead of trying to comfort herself, she was doing something good for once since Leo left. She felt him tremble in her arms, and tears started to run down her own cheeks.

"I don't want to live like this." Nico whispered in a broken voice. "There's no point to live if you don't have love, or a cause to live. I don't have any of them."

"Shh." Hazel hushed him. "It's…"

"It's… what? _Okay_? Because it isn't."

Hazel closed her eyes, pressing out the last tears and focused on holding her brother.

"It's not okay." She agreed quietly. "It's was okay before, but not… not anymore. It will never be the same again. But…"

_It's always darkest before the dawn._

_You're never alone._

_You're much stronger than you think you are._

_Your faith isn't to mourn over the death._

_My love will follow you, stay with you; you're never alone._

_I love you._

"_I_ love you, Nico. I know I'll never be able to take Bianca's place, and I don't want to. I wouldn't want anyone to try to replace Leo for me. No, but I want you to know that there is love in your life, and I will always be there for you just as you've been there for me since the first time we met. I love you."

Hazel waited for a reaction, but then she heard a muffled snore and realized that Nico had fallen asleep in her arms. She didn't know if he had heard her at all, but it didn't matter - for once, her brother actually looked at peace.

She carefully pulled out from the hug and put him down on the bed. It struck Hazel that Nico actually was a year older than her. She'd always seen him as her little brother; and if she really thought about it, she should be older than him if it wasn't for the stuck-in-time-thing they both had suffered through. So technically, yes, he was her little brother.

Hazel drew her fingers through Nico's tangled, black, long hair, and a smile tugged at her lips when she saw how _innocent _he looked. Like a child without any worries, a child with a comfortable and happy life.

She wished with her whole heart that she would be able to give him at least a happy life; a demigod always had worries, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. But Hazel wanted Nico to be happy. He deserved that.

Hazel noticed the small toy's legs stick out under the pillow Nico's head rested on. She carefully pulled it out and looked at it. Bianca probably had given it to him before she died. Hazel put it on Nico's nightstand and rose to her feet. She shot a last look at her sleeping brother's face and then leaned down and pressed her lips on his forehead, before she headed out from the cabin.

* * *

As much as Hazel didn't want to, life without Leo went on. But it didn't go a day without her thinking of him, and it didn't go a second without her heart aching for him. It was just this huge hole in her, this dark emptiness that couldn't be replaced, but she kept herself busy so that she wouldn't just sit and mourn over the past.

Nico had started to open up to Hazel. He told her about their childhood, how Bianca died, how he had tried to get her back, and how he had searched for his mother in the Underworld. Even though all this explaining brought up dark memories, letting it out made him seem a little more at ease and maybe even happier.

Hazel loved that he could open up to her; that he was slowly healing. She didn't feel herself healing, but she tried to not think of that. It had taken years for Nico to finally feel better, and it only had gone a few months for Hazel.

A few weeks later, she dreamt about her father again.

They were back on the _Argo II_. Pluto looked just like last time Hazel dreamt of him. He smiled to Hazel.

"Hi, Hazel." He said. "How have you been?"

Hazel didn't know how to answer. How had _she _been? She hadn't had any time to think about it; she had been so busy keeping Nico happy that she had completely forgotten about herself. How had she been?

"Okay, I guess." Hazel shrugged.

Pluto gave her an amused look.

"You seem to feel better."

She blushed slightly.

"Any reason to why you're here?" Hazel asked curiously.

The god chuckled.

"Besides checking up on you? Yes. First," He locked eyes with Hazel, and she could see genuine gratitude in his dark eyes, "thank you for taking care of Nico. He seems to feel so much better. I don't think you know quite how much he appreciates you being there for him."

Hazel smiled a little.

"Everything for my brother."

"And…" Pluto suddenly looked troubled. He dropped his gaze to the floor. "And to return the favor, I have an offer for you."

Hazel raised an eyebrow. She felt a little uncomfortable with how nice her father suddenly had become. She was waiting for the catch; why would he even care about her after ignoring her for such long time?

"It's against the rules, but I've spoken to the other gods." Pluto mumbled. "Most of them agreed; he is missed of many of the demigods. We voted, and we all agreed that this time, but just this time, we would make an exception."

She stared at the god, confused. What did he mean?

"Of course, I have to try and convince Thanatos too. And some other minor gods. We don't want them to go after him to kill him just when he has returned to life, do we?" Pluto chuckled.

"What do you mean?" Hazel asked slowly. The puzzlepieces were being put together in her head, but she was too scared to believe what she thought he meant.

Pluto took a deep breath, and stared Hazel right in her eyes.

"I could make Leo Valdez come back to life again."

Everything went blurry. Hazel felt dizzy, but she managed not to stumble and continued to stare at Pluto in confusion.

"How?" She croaked.

"With the help of the other gods, I could give him life again. As a thank you for helping me out with Nico. It's not just a gift from me to you; the gods had for a long time been wondering how to thank the seven of the prophecy for the help. This seemed to be the perfect way - if you accept it, of course."

Hazel still couldn't believe what she was hearing. Leo-Leo could come _back_? She could hold him, press her lips against his and see his wonderful face again?

She didn't know what to say. Of course she wanted Leo back, she _loved _him and missed him so much every day that her heart was threatening to explode, but she couldn't just take him back like that. He was with his mother again, and he was in Elysium. Leo was _happy. _

"But… His mom?" Hazel whispered.

Pluto smiled crookedly.

"I've already talked to him. Yes, he's happy with his mother down in the Underworld, but he wants you back. He doesn't want to be happy without you. So he agreed that if you accepted, he would gladly come back."

Hazel felt a lump in her throat. Leo had agreed to this. He didn't want to be happy without her. She wanted him back _so badly_, but was it right? He finally had reunited with his mom…

Then she remembered his goofy grin. His black, curly hair that Hazel loved to draw her fingers through. His corny jokes, his happy personality and the vulnerable, hurt person he was under the humor. His brilliant, brown eyes staring in to hers, his lips pressed against her own and his arms wrapped around her when she couldn't sleep.

"Yes." It was so quiet that Hazel didn't know if Pluto had heard her, so she said it once again but louder. "Yes, I want him back."

**_And that's how it ends. Actually, I hadn't planned it to end like this, but it turned out pretty good and I hope you like it too :)_**

**_I promise this isn't the last you'll see of me when you search for Lazel here on ! I'll start to write drabbles. I think after this long, dramatic, hopefully good story, we all should just relax with cute little oneshots that makes you smile goofily ;)_**

**_I LOVE YOU! Thanks for all amazing reviews you've given me since I started! I can't thank you enough!_**

**_NEVER. STOP. SHIPPING. LAZEL._**


	39. Just a message

Hi guys!

Okay, this is not a chapter – just so you know. I just wanted to say a few words.

First: I've read through this story a few times since it was finished, and I gotta say that I'm very impressed by how you haven't just ditched it all and sent me hate; the storyline is messy, some events are just bizarre, my writing is poor, and the grammar- and spelling-errors – _ohmygods_

Anyway, when I came to the last chapter, I was kinda dizzy. I don't this to sound selfish, I really don't – but if you compare the first chapter to the epilogue, you can see how much the writing has improved. It's not even close to perfect, but compared to the first chapter Eavesdropping – wow. So based on this analyze, I'm sure that this story was what made me better. And this story wouldn't have come this far if you hadn't been there to support me all the way through. I can't thank you enough.

I read through your reviews, and I just feel like it's impossible to show you how thankful I really am. I mean, for you, these are flat words of gratefulness written by some random fanfic-writer who can be an old creep or something. You don't know me, and it's completely understandable and okay if you don't give a damn about this, but I just hope you realize that I'm speaking (well, writing) the truth when I say (write) that I'm so, so grateful – because I really am.

I've gotten so many awesome friends (can I call you that?) to PM with because of this story. I love all of you, thank you so much :'3

So, that was all I wanted to say. Thank you very much, you're awesome!

PS. Oh my gods this note was so cheesy. I'm really sorry.


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